Former Minister Chris Ngige Questioned by ICPC

Former Minister Chris Ngige Questioned by ICPC:The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recently interrogated Chris Ngige, a former Minister of Labour and Employment under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Ngige was questioned regarding his involvement in certain contracts

and job-related irregularities within the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) during his tenure.

Sources revealed that Ngige spent around five hours with ICPC officials on Wednesday,

providing responses to inquiries about contracts awarded under his oversight, particularly related to the NSITF. This follows an earlier investigation where top officials

of the NSITF were summoned over a controversial N47 million gratuity payment to the former Managing Director of the agency, Maureen Allagoa, while she was still in office.

the minister

In a related move, the immediate past Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong,

who is now a senator, formed a committee to investigate contract

irregularities amounting to N1.8 billion within the agency. Both ICPC and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have since become

involved in probing these allegations.

Ngige was invited to the ICPC while he was in the United States for medical reasons.

Upon his return, he honored the commission’s invitation and clarified

issues surrounding a multi-million naira electronic NSITF project (e-NSITF),

which had received Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval during Buhari’s presidency.

An ICPC insider confirmed that Ngige was not detained but cooperated with investigators. A close associate of Ngige further explained that the former minister attended the session voluntarily to address concerns raised by staff regarding ministerial and presidential approvals. Ngige left the ICPC headquarters after providing his explanations.

Meanwhile, ICPC spokesman Demola Bakare stated that he was unaware of the interrogation but promised to investigate further.