EFCC traces N603m to civil servant’s wife...

The sum of N603m has been traced by the EFCC to Mrs Esther Habu, the wife of Mr Josiah Habu, who is the Director of the Bioresources Development Centre in Bayelsa State.

Established in 2003 by the National Biotechnology Development Agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, BIODEC is an intervention programme of the Federal Government aimed at developing the natural resources of Nigeria for use in agriculture, health, environment and industry.
BIODEC has about 25 centres across the country.
Investigations by the EFCC showed that Esther, whose husband is a director at the BIODEC branch in Bayelsa State, was given suspicious contracts even as a total sum of N603,000,000 was traced to her in different deals involving over 20 directors of BIODEC across the country.
The anti-graft agency said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, that about N70m was traced to her husband.
The Director-General of NABDA, Prof Lucy Ogbadu, who oversees all BIODEC branches across the country was also arrested by the EFCC.
The commission said Ogbadu’s link with all the alleged scams was being investigated, adding that she had been duly served with bail conditions while investigations continued.