The House of
Representatives Committee on Public Procurement, yesterday, gave Minister of
Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, a 24-hour notice to appear before it over alleged
abuse and breach of the Procurement Act, 2007.
The summon followed a
resolution taken at the commencement of a two-day investigative hearing into
allegations of abuse, breach and violation of the Public Procurement Act, 2007
in the engagement of contractors for the pre-shipment inspection and monitoring
of crude oil and gas export from Nigeria.
She is expected to appear
before the committee at 10 a.m. today. The committee also walked out officials
of the Finance Ministry, led by the Legal Director, Mr Gabriel Christopher, and
representatives of Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, saying they were not
competent enough to speak on the issues at stake. The Committee on Public
Procurement, chaired by Wole Oke (PDP, Osun), is investigating allegations of
abuse, breach, and violations of Public Procurement Act 2007 in the engagements
of contractors for pre-shipment, inspection, and monitoring of crude oil and
gas export from Nigeria.
Members of the committee,
who expressed concerns over the disregard for due process, informed the new BPP
Director-General, Mamman Ahmad, that any officer of the BPP convicted for
breaching the procurement law shall be liable to five years imprisonment and
dismissal from public service, on conviction, without option of fine.
The committee via a letter
dated March 8, 2017 invited the minister to furnish the committee with relevant
documents as well as appear for questioning on the subject matter. While
responding to inquiries from the lawmakers, Director-General of Bureau of
Public Procurement, BPP, who admitted that the entire procurement process was
flawed, however, noted that the process should have been cancelled but for time
exigencies. He queried the rationale behind the petitions sent to the
Presidency by the aggrieved parties, but noted that the bureau had addressed
various issues in the memo sent from the Presidency.
Apparently disturbed by
this development, Oke said: “Mr President directed the petitions to you. I have
your memo to the Chief of Staff to the President, I also have the letter from
the Acting President to you, that shows that there are issues.” On his part,
Gabriel Onyenwife (APGA, Anambra), who read the riot act to the BPP
Director-General, noted that the Legislative and Privilege Acts provide that
anyone who gives misleading information to the Parliament on conviction risks
two years jail term.
The BPP was also chided for
awarding three lots to three companies owned by an individual and for failing
to ensure that the companies complied with extant laws and tax remittance to
Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, PENCOM, ITF and other statutory agencies.
At this point, DPR was invited to present its submission and the
representatives announced that they had no submission to present as they were
verbally invited to be part of the hearing.
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