• Move to recover N28 trn ‘lost’ revenue
From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has resolved to probe the procurement process for the award of the contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
Consequently, the House mandated its committees on Public Procurement and Works to undertake the probe and report back to it in four weeks for further legislative actions.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Austin Achado, “on the urgent need to investigate the procurement process and award of contract for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway,” at yesterday’s plenary.
Achado, in his motion, informed the House that the Federal Ministry of Works recently entered into a contract agreement with Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Limited, for the construction of a 700 kilometre Lagos to Calabar Coastal Road and Rail Project “at an estimated rate of N4.329 billion per kilometre.
According to him, the contract entails the use of “concrete technology for a carriage width of 59.7metres, to include 10 lanes, shoulders and rail with additional designs of service ducts, streetlights, drainages and shore protection.
“This laudable project, with the prospect of providing easy access for movement of goods and services across the nation, has a financing structure, as announced by the works minister, which requires the Federal Government to provide 15 per cent to 30 per cent co-financing, while the private sector counterpart will provide the balance, and to toll the road when completed for a minimum period of 15 years, to ensure full recovery of all debts and equity applied for the delivery of the project.”
Nevertheless, the lawmaker expressed concern that there may have been a violation of Section 40(2) of the Public Procurement Act 2007,” which requires that where a procuring authority adopts to use Restrictive Tendering Approach, it should be on the basis that the said goods and services are available only from a limited number of suppliers and contractors and as such, tenders shall be invited from all such contractors that can provide such goods and services.”
Achado also noted that “the procurement strategy adopted by the Federal Ministry of Works for the award of the contract violates the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission Act.”
He said Section 4 of the Act provides that “all approved infrastructure projects and contracts for financing, construction and maintenance must be advertised for Open Competitive Public Bid, in, at least, three national dailies.”
Achado, while stating that Section 5 of the Act states “that any direct negotiations with only one contractor could be allowed, only after exhausting the provisions of Section 4,” expressed worry that the ministry did provide the “private partner’s financing sources, structure and competitiveness.”
This, he said, is likely to create contingent liabilities to the government.
The lawmaker said it is disturbing that the “contingent liabilities accruing to the Federal Government on this project violate the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act of 2023.”
Section 22(3) of the Act, according to him, “states that the minister shall not guarantee an external loan unless the terms and conditions of the loan shall have been laid before the National Assembly and approved by its resolution. The guarantees issued to cover the debt financing component of this project do not have the approval of this National Assembly.”
In a separate motion, the House mandated its Committee on Foreign Affairs to carry out a holistic investigation into the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its missions.
Moving the motion, Ben Etanabene (PDP-Delta) during plenary said the government had set in motion reforms for effective service delivery in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, parastatal agencies and the missions.
He expressed concern that the House had taken several steps to ensure the reforms and policy thrust of the ministry came to fruition for the good of the country.
He said in spite of the efforts of the House, Nigerians around the world were faced with a general and urgent Consular Services Challenge.
According to him, many Nigerians are illegally held or imprisoned in foreign countries and often under harsh conditions that may lead to loss of lives if urgent actions are not taken.
“Many Nigerians go through extreme difficulties to secure visas for legitimate travels, including government officials and legislators after paying exorbitant visa fees.”
He said embassies in a bid to ease visa application processes have resulted in outsourcing the processes to agents whose cost of services are borne by Nigerians.
The lawmaker said several modes of visa applications were in force, including express services with huge costs paid by applicants who are sometimes denied visas after such payments.
He said the ministry in addition to budgetary allocations, benefitted from intervention funds, for running the affairs of the ministry and missions as well as the internally generated revenue by several of its missions.
He said the committee received several complaints regarding issues of employment in the missions, appointments, postings, redeployment and disciplinary issues that affect morals and service delivery.
He added that a lot of local staff ceiling in some missions had been exceeded due to violation of rules of employment and in some instances, the ceiling placed on the number of Foreign Service Officers.
This, he said, had further resulted in indebtedness in the respective missions.
Adopting the motion, the House mandated the Committee on Foreign Affairs to carry out a holistic investigation and report back to the House within three weeks.
In another motion, the House resolved to set up a special investigating panel to recover about N28 trillion revenue allegedly lost due to trade malpractices by private and local companies.
The panel is expected to track the activities of local and foreign companies to prevent haemorrhaging the Nigeria economy through alleged trade malpractices.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Olufemi Bamisele on the need to track activities of the private sector and halt the haemorrhaging of the economy through alleged trade malpractices.
Bamisele, in his motion, said despite the effort of government agencies to track activities in the private sector, local and foreign companies operating in the country have allegedly devised means to rip off the government.
The lawmaker said: “In the last eight years, Nigeria lost an estimated sum of N28 trillion to trade malpractices perpetrated by rogue foreign companies.
“Daily, hundreds of trade malpractices are carried out by foreign and local companies operating in the different sectors of Nigeria’s economy. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, customs, Nigeria Ports Authority and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency can definitely not be at all places at the same time.
“In the maritime company alone, the volume of revenue diverted by foreign companies is about 40 times the revenue target of Nigeria customs service. This is the same practice in dozens of sub-sectors of the Nigeria economy. “
“Some of the prevalent cases are happening in Nigeria’s free trade zone, including the Oil and Gas Free Trade Zones Authority,” he said.
Consequently, he expressed worry that if the trend is allowed to continue, the country’s economy would worsen to the detriment of the people.
“If this issue is not addressed, Nigeria will keep losing to trade malpractices as a result of the loose ends in the foreign companies. There is a similar motive why the said Act is being carried out despite different efforts by government agencies to track activities in the private sectors and foreign companies.
“There is a need to investigate and ascertain the illegal economy trade malpractice carried out in the private sector, foreign and local companies in Nigeria,” Bamisele said.