The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Bureau of Public
Procurement (BPP) said it saved more than N26.86 billion in 2018
alone, by revising down inflated contract sums by government
contractors.
BPP revealed this in its 2018 annual report obtained from the bureau
by newsmen in Abuja.
The affected ministries included Transport and Power, Works and
Housing headed by Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, former
governor of Lagos and Rivers, respectively.
According to the report, the savings are from the review of contracts
awarded to contractors by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs) before being given certificate of “No Objection’’ by the
bureau.
The report showed that in 2018, 86 certificates of “No Objection’’ was
given out by the bureau to MDAs for contracts initially totaling
N1.421 trillion but was later reduced to N1.394 trillion.
Of the savings made, the highest amount of N22.22 billion was recorded
from the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. The money was saved
from an initial request of N877.40 billion.
Similarly, contracts under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was
reduced from N278.91 billion to N278.64 billion, resulting in savings
of about N271 million.
Also, the BPP saved N1.37 billion on projects from the Ministry of
Transportation from an initial request of N76.22 billion and from
Ministry of Water Resources, N521 million was saved out of N13.12
billion.
From the Ministry of Finance, BPP saved N143.72 million from a request
of N3.54 billion and about N33.65 million was saved from the Central
Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) initial request of N1.47 billion.
The report also showed that savings of about N494.96 million was made
from various military contracts from an initial request totaling
N123.82 billion for the procurement of critical equipment.
In addition, savings of about N8.04 million was made from various
contracts under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior, from an
initial request of N9.23 billion.
The procurement bureau also saved N104 million out of an initial
request of N936.75 million by Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria for
the procurement of broadcast equipment for 2019 general elections.
The report, however, showed that no savings was made from contracts
under the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Ministry of
Environment and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
According to the report, the public procurement activities in most
MDAs are shrouded in secrecy and not in line with international best
practices.
“The degree of the reported cases being prosecuted in the courts by
the EFCC and the ICPC are clear testimony of the breaches in the MDAs.
“As observed in most cases, the procurement officers collude with the
contractors and service providers to breach certain provisions of the
BPP Act for their selfish reasons.
“These breaches range from faulty bid solicitation process, advance
exposure of the bidding criteria to their preferred bidders and
overlooking forged procurement statutory documents during technical
and financial bid process.
“They also give out in-house prices of contracts to their preferred
contractors and service providers which serve as an advantageous guide
in their financial bidding, among other numerous breaches of the Act.
“Procurement officers, who are known to be colluding with the bidders
to breach the Act, have not been reprimanded enough to deter them from
their offences,’’ the Bureau reports.
