Business Briefs
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THE federal government has said that it loses $10 billion (N1.7 trillion) annually to fraudulent practices in the award of contracts and project reviews. Emeka Muoma Ezeh, director-general, Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, said the Country Procurement Assessment Report, CPAR, observed that procurements were being carried out by staff that had little or no training at all and for that, every N1.00 spent, N60 kobo was lost to sharp practices by corrupt officials of government.
“A whopping $10 billion was being lost yearly by the federation to fraudulent practices in the award and execution of public contracts through inflation of contract, cost of procurement plans, poor project prioritisation, poor budgeting processes, lack of competition and value for money and other kinds of manipulation of the procurement and contract award processes,” he said.
This is why the BPP boss said the federal government is encouraging states that are yet to adopt the public procurement act to do so while those that have enacted the act should start implementing it in order to save the states and the federation from corrupt practices in the awards of contracts.
“From 2009 to date, the Bureau has saved over N528billion in project reviews. The States have been denied these benefits because they have no law on procurements. In most cases where EFCC has investigated corruption involving contract award, at the last point, they will realise that the federal law as it is today, does not apply to the States or Local Government. There is no legal framework to prosecute violators of procurement procedures; bidders are not provided level playing ground; criteria on which decisions are to be based are not known; business opportunities are only known to those close to officials in charge and of course, absence of an oversight body encourages confusion. At the end, value for money is sacrificed and confidence in government is eroded.”
The clear objective of public procurement, the BPP boss stated, is to reduce the scope of corruption and improve the efficiency in the management of Nigeria’s public
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NPA Dismantles Blockade at the Port
THE management of the Lagos Port Complex, the Nigerian Ports Authority, on Tuesday, November 11, announced the dismantling of the blockade mounted by clearing agents and reopened the nation’s major seaport for business. Nasir Mohammed, port manager, LPC, said the port was now open and that people were free to come in and transact their business.
“We have informed the agents that while they have the right to protest, they do not have the right to block the port from others who have legitimate business at the port. They saw reason with us. We assure all port users that their security is guaranteed. The police and relevant security operatives have been duly informed; adequate security will be provided to all port users. Trucks are free to come into the port, load and exit without entertaining any fear. Mediations are ongoing between the agents and APM Terminals with a view to reaching an amicable solution, but port operations will continue as the talks hold,” he said.
The Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria had earlier described the blockade as a reckless act capable of hurting Nigeria’s economy. It is estimated that the economy was losing about N5 billion daily as a result of the agents’ action. While the Apapa Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service is said to be losing an average of N1.4 billion daily, shipping lines, manufacturing companies, haulage/trucking firms, terminal operators, NPA, importers, clearing agents and other agencies of government are collectively said to be losing about N3.6 billion.
Yusuf Malanta, area project manager, Apapa Area Command, NCS, said that while some documents could be processed online during the blockade, containers could not exit the port because they could not be examined by customs officers. Meanwhile, aggrieved clearing agents had for nine days shut the port over alleged high charges by terminal operators. But policemen and other security operatives have been put on alert to provide adequate security to anyone willing to transact business at the port, according to him.
— Nov. 24, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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