The Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, Tuesday, declared that people saying that he
has not inaugurated the Board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund,
NSITF, because he was awarding contracts were ignorant of the Procurement Act.
The Minister added that
neither himself as a minister nor the Board had the right to award contracts.
This was in response to the
threat by the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade
Adams Oshiomhole to expel Ngige or any other minister that failed to carry out
his directive.
Oshiomhole had directed
Ngige to inaugurate the board but the minister was yet to do so.
A press release signed by
the Director of Press, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Samuel Olowookere,
read, “The attention of the Hon. Minister of labour and Employment, Sen. Dr.
Chris Ngige has been drawn to media reports that his office appropriated the
powers of the Board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF, in the
award of contracts, hence the delay in inaugurating the board of the agency.
“Such a blatant falsehood
is either on account of fertile ignorance or outright mischief or both by the
originator as well as the peddlers. It is therefore imperative that the
provisions of the Procurement Act 2010 which is clear and unambiguous on the
process for the award of contracts be re-emphasized.
“For clarity purpose, the
Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB) for the award of contracts in any Ministry is
made up of the Permanent Secretary as chairman and his Directors, while in the
parastatals, the Parastatals Tenders Board consists of the Chief Executive
Officer (Director General or Managing Director) and his Directors
“The Minister is not a
member and therefore does not award contracts. Similarly, members of Board of
Directors being non-members of the Tenders Board of the parastatals do not also
award contracts. It is therefore a stunningly crass ignorance for anyone to
claim that part of the reasons for the delay in the
inauguration of the board
of the NSITF or any parastatal was to enable the Minister usurp the role of the
board as regards the award of contracts.
“When the threshold of the
award is above a parastatal, such contracts are referred to the MTB for final
approval. Such also is the case with the Ministerial Tenders Board threshold
which is referred to the Bureau for Public Procurement and from there, to the
Council of Ministers called the Federal Executive Council for treatment and
ratification.
“So in effect, the Federal
Executive Council is not a contract awarding body and hence Ministers do not
award contracts stricto senso!
“It is our humble view
therefore that those in authority should be versed in little basic issues that
guide public governance so as to be properly guided in their utterances to
avoid unnecessary character assassination and unfortunate misinformation of the
general public.
“Once more, the Honourable
minister wishes to state that the reason for the delayed inauguration of the
Board of the NSITF was to enable the Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up to
probe a frightening degree of corruption amounting to over 48 billion Naira out
of which N5billion disappeared in a day without vouchers, complete its
assignment.
“The panel has submitted
its report while the committee implementing same report is already empaneled.
It will finish its work very soon to pave the way for the inauguration of the
Board of Directors.”
He is both
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