Says “I earn N630,000 monthly”.
Story by CrossRiverWatch admin
The senator representing Cross River Central Senatorial District and Senate Leader,
Senator Victor Ndoma Egba has denied involvement in the award of a N45million
borehole at Obubra LGA. The Senator made this clarification in an online forum,
Cross River State Coalition for Change.
Details of the N45million borehole contract which is one of the Senator’s
constituency projects emerged last month and not a few Cross Riverians were
infuriated that a borehole could be constructed at such an outrageous sum. Some
commentators accused the senator of looting the money. But he said “as a senator, I
do not have a budget and the process of awarding contracts for constituency projects
is entirely exclusive of any lawmaker’s input. We don’t initiate the contract, we
don’t award the contracts, and we have no clue about the would-be contractor. All
that we do is to lobby the Senior Special Assistant on MDA to the President to
‘consider’ our constituency in their projects for a given year”.
Cross River Watch investigation however reveal that depending on the soil texture,
the cost of a borehole in central to northern Cross River at prevailing industry
cost is between N250,000 and N500,000.
Th Senator also said his salary per month is N630,000. “How much do I earn in a
month? The answer is N630,000. I have kept my pay slips right from 2003 when I
became a member of Senate and I will be glad to produce any such slip when
requested”. He cautioned against the use of what he called threats and blackmail in
the bid to hold public officials to a life of access and scrutiny; “while I strongly
believe that public office holders must all the time live a life of access and
scrutiny, I do not think that should confer a licence on any one in issuing threats
and, sometimes, blackmail”.