The former Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has been ordered to be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre by Justice Mariam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
Ngige was arraigned on eight counts of alleged corruption and will remain in custody until Monday, December 15, when the court is scheduled to hear his application for bail.
The charges, filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), allege that Ngige used his position as Minister between 2015 and 2023 to commit corrupt acts.
Specifically, he was accused of two primary offenses: conferring unfair advantage on his associates in the award of several contracts, and corruptly accepting gifts of several million naira through his organizations during his tenure.
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The charge, marked FCT/HC/CR/726/2025, details that in count one, Ngige allegedly used his authority as Minister of Labour and Employment and Supervising Minister of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) “to confer an unfair advantage upon Cezimo Nigeria Limited, a company whose MD/CEO and alter ego, Ezebinwa Amarachukwu Charles is your associate, by the award of Seven different contracts for consultancy, training and supply by the NSITF to the said company to the tune of N366,470,920.68 among other charges.”
The ex-minister, however, entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges.
The hearing for Ngige’s bail application was halted because the prosecution was only served the application shortly before the court proceedings began.
His lead counsel, Patrick Ikweato (SAN), pleaded with the court to admit the former minister to bail on compassionate health grounds pending the hearing. However, EFCC’s Counsel, Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), objected to the request, asserting that the former minister “was a flight risk” and confirming that the commission would respond formally to the bail application later.
In a short ruling, Justice Hassan ordered the remand of Ngige and adjourned the matter until Monday, December 15, for the definitive hearing of the bail application.
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