Business News
Contractors in CBN, Ministries and MDAs inflated contracts by N26.86 billion – Reports
The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has disclosed that it saved N26.86 billion for the Federal Government in 2018, through a downward review of inflated contracts by the government ministries and agencies.
The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has disclosed that it saved N26.86 billion for the Federal Government in 2018, through a downward review of inflated contracts by the ministries and agencies of government.
According to the Bureau’s annual report, the total amount saved stemmed from the review of contracts awarded to contractors by various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the Central Bank of Nigeria before being given a certificate of “No Objection’’ by the bureau.
The report shows that out of the inflated amount saved, 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.
The report reads: “Contracts earlier approved under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources was reduced from N278.91 billion to N278.64 billion, resulting in savings of about N271 million.
“N1.37 billion was saved on projects from the Ministry of Transportation from an initial request of N76.22 billion and from the Ministry of Water Resources, N521 million was saved out of N13.12 billion.
“Also, from the Ministry of Finance, N143.72 million was saved from a request of N3.54 billion, while N33.65 million was saved from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) initial request of N1.47 billion.”
It was further disclosed that the sum N494.96 million was saved from various military contracts from an initial request totalling 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.
Lastly, 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.
More details: According to the Bureau, the public procurement activities in most MDAs are laced with secrecy and not in line with international best practices. While providing further details, BPP noted that the reported cases being prosecuted in the courts by the EFCC and the ICPC were clear testimony of the breaches in the MDAs.
“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 the 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.
Meanwhile, the report showed that no savings were made from contracts under the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.
Energy
Agip shut oil facility in Bayelsa due to oil spillage, environmental pollution reported
Agip on Wednesday confirmed an oil leak, resulting in a shutdown.
The Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has confirmed the shutdown of its Idu oilfields at Egbebiri settlement within Biseni in Yenagoa Local Government Area in Bayelsa, due to an oil spillage.
A Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) report on the incident said that the leakage at the facility could be traced to equipment failure due to a rupture at the wellhead.
According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Eni, the parent company of NAOC, in a response statement, said the facility was shut down to prevent further damage to the environment.
What Eni is saying
An Eni Spokesperson on behalf of the Italian Energy firm, in a statement said, “As soon as the incident was reported, we activated our oil spill response, shut in the well and notified government regulatory agencies.
“The Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) was carried out on 09/05/2021, with participation of community representatives and the government regulatory agencies.
“The event occurred within the Company’s well head location which is paved and walled round. There is no significant third party impact,” Eni stated.
Environmental Rights Group reports environmental degradation
An environmental rights group, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), however, said that the incident which discharged crude and associated gas had severely polluted the environment.
The Non-Governmental Organisation said that a visit to the spill site showed pictorial evidence of the crude spreading beyond NAOC’s right of way as nearby vegetation were affected as a result of the crude impact.
The Head of Field Operations at ERA/FoEN, Mr Alagoa Morris, in a field report on the spill said the Idu fields was notorious for frequent spills caused by equipment failure.
He said, “The people of Egbebiri in Biseni kingdom have experienced several oil spills over the years. And all the oil spill incidents documented by the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in this community environment have occurred as a result of equipment failure and on Wellheads.
“ERA/FoEN has had cause to visit the environment of Idu Well 5 and 11 located within the same place in the past and it has always been Idu Well 11 spewing crude oil into the environment.
“Available records from ERA/FoEN indicate that there have been previous oil spills from this particular Idu Well 11 operated by Agip. Before concluding this Field Report, ERA/FoEN confirmed that Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) was carried out on Sunday, 9th May 2021.
“This is why the official Spill Reference No 2021/LAR/028/058 is indicated in this report; sourced from the JIV report. Cause of spill was attributed to equipment failure,” ERA/FoEN stated.
The report quoted a resident of the community simply identified as Georgie as saying that the spill incident of May 7 spilled oil from around 10 p.m till about 8 a.m the next day before the leak was stopped adding that the level of damage was enormous.
What you should know
It can be recalled that in a similar circumstance, Shell Petroleum Development Company reported an oil pipeline spillage at its Okordia-Rumekpe 14-inch crude truck line, discharging about 213 barrels of crude oil into the Ikarama community in Bayelsa State and polluting about 1.34 hectares of land.
This new leakage is the latest in a series of oil spillages by the multinational oil exploration and production companies, which has put them in conflict with the host communities.
Energy
Nigeria records system collapse during holidays
Nigeria’s national electricity grid collapsed on Wednesday morning.
