ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Worried by the gross violation of Public Procurement Act by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government (MDAs) which had cost the nation trillions of naira over the years, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Public Procurement has summoned some of the retired and serving heads of the affected MDAs over the development.
The MDAs sent the first batch of the invitations by the committee are: Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Ministry of Defence including the Army, Navy and the Air Force, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Others include Nigeria Oil and Gas Local Content Monitoring Board, National Health Insurance Scheme (NIHS), Nigeria Prison Service (NPS), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Energy Regulatory Commission (NERC), Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), among others.
The chairman of the Committee, Hon. Wole Oke, who confirmed the development during the committee’s meeting at the weekend in Abuja, said that the invitation to the MDAs became necessary in order to arrest the situation and prevent future occurrences in the MDAs where trillions of naira had gone down the drain.
Hon. Oke who disclosed that already letters of invitation had been dispatched to all the affected MDAs vowed that all identified culprits during the Committee’s investigations would be handed over to the Economic and Financial Creimes Commission,EFCC or the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offence Commission,ICPC for diligent prosecution to serve as deterrent to others.
“Within the short time of the our committee coming on board, we have discovered several wrongdoings being perpetrated by the MDAs through which several trillions of naira had gone to private pockets.
“No respect for the Public Procurement Act,hiding of books from legislative scrutiny,lack of trained manpower,over invoicing, splitting of contracts and collusion with Bureau of Public Procurement officials and a lots sharp malpractices have been the order of the days in the MDAs which are punishable offences under the public Procurement Act that attract a minimum of five years imprisonment without an option of fine.
“It is not going to be business as usual in the 8th Assembly as emphasised by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara during our official inauguration,enough is enough, if things were properly done in line with the Public Procurement Act,there will be no room for the kind of the arms deal scam rocking the nation now, I can say it categorically that by the time we start looking into the MDAs books, the current arms scam otherwise known as Dazukigate will be a child play,” he said.
The committee is saddled with the responsibilities of over-sighting the implementation of the Public Procurement Act, oversight the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit, monitor the implementation of all capital projects in the Appropriation Acts, and ensure that all procurement of goods and services carried out by Agencies and parastatals on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria comply withe the Procurement Act among others.
Credit: Leadership (Nigeria)
