Reps Query NTA over Under 17 World Cup Contract

Musa Usman Magawatta, director general, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), has come under the hammer of federal lawmakers who have queried the DG for allegedly ignoring due process in awarding contracts for the upgrading of equipment in preparation for the FIFA under 17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria last October.
The House Committee on Information and National Orientation during the budget defence session with management of NTA described the contract award as breaching the 1999 Constitution and the 2009 Appropriation Act, because it was done without inputs from the National Assembly.
Magawatta had in his presentation, told lawmakers that the management of NTA obtained the permission of the federal executive council [FEC] in the wake of preparations for the tournament to pay 8.2 billion naira, representing 15 percent of the entire contract sum from its internally generated revenue [IGR].
In his response, Mustapha Habeeb, acting chairman of the Committee, said that he is amazed how NTA was able to cajole Professor Dora Akunyili, minister of Information and Communications, and FEC to approve the payment without recourse to the National Assembly, pointing out that the money spent was an extra-budgetary expenditure, which should have gotten the approval of the federal legislature.
In his words,” not only that NTA was operating in breach of the laws by not remitting its IGRs into the Consolidated Revenue Fund, or the Federation Account as required, he said the Authority has also been indicted in a yet to be debated report of the House Committee on Finance of also not remitting its value added tax [VAT], and the pay as you earn [PAYE] tax deductions from employees into government coffers. “
The DG in his submissions explained that the contract to upgrade NTA’s equipment from standard to high definition status in preparation for the FIFA organized tournament was borne out of the challenges to meet up the time.
He said after paying the initial 15 percent, the balance was however negotiated to be paid in a quarterly installment of 930 million Naira, spread across the next two years through the debt management office [DMO], adding that NTA plans to pay DMO from its IGRs in the ten years.
Defending the reason behind spending of IGRs by the Management of NTA, Magawatta explained that the Authority has been spending huge sum in its drive to commission new stations across the country, saying that the agency ought to have been commended based on its social responsibility services, as according to him, the National Assembly alone takes a lot of its air time, and for free.
He told the committee that what was usually allocated to NTA by the federal government in its budget were for overheads and personnel costs, adding that NTA pay 1.9 million dollars annually for satellite services, and also have to provide equipment, including cameras, vehicles and outside broadcast [OB] vans for its successful day to day transmission.