Group to Buhari: punish breach of Procurement Act in NDDC

Okodili Ndidi, Abuja

A non-political pressure group, the Global Forum for Accountability and Transparency, Nigeria, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to punish the reckless breach of Public Procurement Act in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Founder and Lead Executive Director of the group, Joseph Ambakederimo, in a statement, argued that if similar infraction can be punished in the National Examination Council (NECO), there was no justification for ignoring the breach of the Procurement Act in the NDDC.

He alleged that there has been multiple acts of violations of the Procurement Act by successive Boards of the NDDC, “some of which includes contract splitting, payment of mobilization fees in excess of the approved threshold of fifteenth percent as stipulated in the 2007 procurement Act, award of contracts without following due process”.

According to the statement entitled ‘like NECO like NDDC’, “there has been gross misapplication and mismanagement of funds or outright fraud reigns supreme in the NDDC more than any department or agency of government in this country, there have been violations of section 19, 25, 35, 41, 42 of the public procurement Act (2007)”.

It added that, “there was mixed reactions a few days back when Nigerians woke up to the news of sacking of the Registrar and CEO of National Examination Council (NECO) Professor Charles Uwakwe and four others for issues of violating the public procurement Act, 2007 and corruption.

“To our mind the news was a welcome development even when the sack directive falls short of recommending the men for prosecution. However, we just have to draw a nexus between the action taken on the NECO issue and what has been taking place in the NDDC as regards the mismanagement of its finances meant for development of the region.

“We are drawing this nexus between the NECO and NDDC because we are yet to see anyone made to go through any disciplinary measures or been prosecuted as a result of the rape and violation of the procurement Act in the NDDC, which in the case of the NDDC, is unprecedented.

“There has been multiple acts of violations of the procurement Act by successive boards of the commission , some of which includes contract splitting, payment of mobilization fees in excess of the approved threshold of fifteenth percent as stipulated in the 2007 procurement Act, award of contracts without following due process, all of which runs counter to the 2007 procurement Act.

“For instance Section thirty five of the procurement Act states that payment of mobilization fees should be not more than fifteen percent to be paid to suppliers or contractors and to be supported by a bank guarantee or insurance Bond issued by an institution acceptable to the procuring entity, in this case the NDDC”.

It continued that, “but a particular reference here will suffice to prove that there are several violations of the same 2007 procurement Act by officials of the NDDC, that was relied upon to discipline the NECO officers.

“Of particular mention is the recent payment of about 55% as mobilization fees to a company that has to do with the Covid-19 medical supplies and enlightenment of the spread of Covid-19 contract. What this means is a clear breach of the extant rules as enshrined in the 2007 procurement Act and there just have to be Punishment for wrong doing. These are payments that went through the audit and internal controls of the commission yet it was allowed to pass, if this is not crass impunity on display with this present management then we do not know what it is.

“There has been gross misapplication and mismanagement of funds or outright fraud reigns supreme in the NDDC more than any department or agency of government in this country, there have been violations of section 19, 25, 35, 41, 42 of the public procurement Act (2007). Section 42 of the procurement Act often relied upon by officials of the NDDC to perpetuate fraud states thus: A Procuring entity (NDDC) may carry out any emergency procurement where: (a) goods, works, or services are only available from particular supplier or contractor or if a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive right in respect of the goods, works or services, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.

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“And you ask what is the emergency in the emergency contracts that have become the norm in the NDDC today if not for pilfering of the resources of the commission. What has happened to the over 250Billion Naira worth of emergency contracts that did not follow due process that was uncovered by the verification exercise. It is alleged that many of these emergency contracts have been paid on the direction of the Honorable Minister without due verification.

“The President cannot side- step the law, what the president did in approving the Covid-19 expenditures on emergency basis has grossly been abused by the IMC, and the management cannot claim the anticipatory award is covered by law when in fact all manner of contracts has been dubbed emergency in NDDC in recent years. Can the IMC say the beneficiary company’s of the Covid-19 contracts have the exclusive right of the goods and services to be procured and no other companies have such goods and services to be supplied to the NDDC.

“The political appointees appointed to the leadership position of the NDDC often toyed with ideas of circumventing due process in the award of contracts and in dealing with management issues which in most cases pitched senior management staffs who will advise against abuse of extant rules finding themselves in collusion with the political establishment and the price to pay for refusing to be a part-taker of breaching the procurement law is to either be transferred or forced to go on compulsory retirement as in this recent case”.

It also added that, “the above is a synopsis of the chronicles of Akpabio and NDDC of the gross misapplication and misappropriation of funds or outright fraud. We therefore call on the President to constitute a special panel to probe the 250Billion Naira worth of emergency contracts and the flagrant payment of 55% as mobilization fees to some companies contrary to section thirty five of the public procurement Act, 2007. The President needs to put his foot down and ensure that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

“The infractions that occurred in the NECO that necessitated the President’s action is nothing compared to what has come to taking root in the NDDC. Yes there is a purported forensic audit going on but our worry is that those who midwifed the process have their legs and hands already stained with indelible ink of disproportionate corruption.

“The outcome of the forensic audit is already pre- determined but we are waiting patiently to see our far reaching they will go. Let it be known that the Global Forum for Accountability and Transparency, Nigeria shall issue our own minority report to expose those who may have claimed to be righteous in the management of the commission resources.

“Therefore the President should revisit the reconstitution of the substantive board without delay and bring back the NDDC to the presidency where it originally belongs. Mr. Akpabio has set a dangerous precedent in the management of the commission and if the commission is allowed to continue to be under the Ministry it will portend danger to the region because with this kind of obsession Akpabio has brought on the NDDC it will be difficult for the NDDC to achieve it’s set out objective, this the President must know.”