The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC will begin a comprehensive scrutiny of all contracts awarded by the Federal Government since 2004 to ascertain that such contracts were awarded to duly qualified companies.

In a statement by its Head, Media and Publicity, Femi Babafemi, EFCC said it had written to ministries, parastatals and agencies for a list of their contractors to enable it keep tabs on them.

The letters, EFCC said, were sent to ministers and heads of parastatals and agencies. But it did not state any particular project.

However, sources said that the agency is particularly interested in contracts awarded during the last days of the Obasanjo’s presidency when contracts were awarded at highly inflated prices and to some companies later found not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.

The statement said EFCC had demanded "the list of registered contractors, all contracts awarded in the last four years, amount of contract (s) awarded to these contractors, status of the contract (s) and any other relevant information".

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"The step is being taken in line with the provisions of part II, section 6 of the EFCC Act 2004," the agency said, adding:

"The decision to obtain this list of federal contractors is also a follow-up to the discoveries of the various probe panels that multi-million naira contracts were awarded to contractors who were neither registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) nor the awarding government ministries or parastatals.

"At the end of its findings, the commission also intends to advise government appropriately on award of contracts".

EFCC said that the probe of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration contracts became necessary because of the startling revelations at the various investigation panels of the National Assembly.

For instance, the House of Representatives Committee on Power Sector during its sittings learnt that contracts were awarded to some fictitious companies.

It visited some project sites, claiming that there was nothing to show for the mobilization fee collected by the contractors.

In its yet-to-be released report, the Ndudi Elumelu-led panel said: "A natural consequence of the findings of the committee is the inevitable indictment of individuals and companies for fraud, corruption, embezzlement of funds, inefficiency and waste of public funds."

It recommended that some individuals and companies be "sanctioned for economic and financial sabotage of the country".

The committee suggested that some contracts be either reviewed or revoked, it was learnt.

It recommended the "cancellation of the entire National Integrated Power Plant (NIPP) contracts and the blacklisting of some contractors.

The panel upbraided the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its alleged failure to provide information on the letters of credit opened and where the money involving over $1 billion had been kept between 1999 and May last year.

It asked that EFCC be invited to investigate the CBN and the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation over the matter.

The Senate Ad Hoc Committee probing the oil sector has also inveiled a can of worms.

Before it went on recess, the panel heard how the country lost billions of naira in the oil bid rounds during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

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