Hiding the Figures. Dealing With Ineligible Companies. Irregularities Discovered in Multi-Billion Contracts Approved by Tinubu in May
By Timileyin Akinmoyeje
After a two-day marathon meeting in May 2024, the Federal Executive Council, led by President Bola Tinubu, approved a number of policies and contracts numbering up to about 21.
Key projects include a N7.6 billion contract to upgrade the Kwaita-Yebu Road in the Kuala Area Council of Abuja, the concession to deploy a revenue assurance platform in the gambling industry, the construction of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, and a N412 million contract for street lights on Bill Clinton Drive, Airport Expressway.
PROJECT COST/CONTRACT AMOUNT DURATION CONTRACTOR
Consultancy Services for th reconciliation and expansion of remittances to NITDA Not Revealed Not Revealed Not Revealed
Special Purpose Vehicle to be created on a PPP basis to develop 90,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable Not Revealed Not Revealed Not Revealed
building of bus terminals and other transport facilities in the Federal Capital, Abuja. N51 Billion 15 Months Planet Projects Nigeria Limited
Upgrade of the Kwaita-Yebu Road in Kuala Area Council of Abuja N7.6 billion 18 Months Messrs El & Matt Nigeria Limited
building of the Court of Appeal Abuja Division N37.2 billion. Not Revealed Messrs Visible Construction Limited.
Street lights on Bill Clinton Drive, Airport Expressway N412 Million Not Revealed
Nigeria Customs Service to buy 200 Toyota Land Cruiser Buffalo V6 N12.5 billion. Not Revealed Not Revealed
Section 2 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Superhighway for N1.6 trillion. Not Revealed Not Revealed
Reconstruction of Koton-Karfe -Abaji Road (Abuja bound), along Abuja-Lokoja Route in Kogi state N89 billion. Not Revealed Not Revealed
Equalisation of Lokoja-Benin Road, Okpela Section, Lokoja-Benin, Dualised Auchi Section -Uromi Link Road and Lokoja-Benin Road, Ekpoma Section N120 Billion Not Revealed To be financed by BUA
Construction of roads and bridges in Kaima-Tesse, Kwara State, Benin-Agbor, BeninByepass and Ngaski-Wara in Kebbi State N546 Billion Not Specificied Various Contractors (No name given)
Contstruction of the Kano Bypass. N230 Billion 36 months CCECC
Concession to deploy a revenue assurance platform under PPP arrangement in the lottery and gaming sector. Not Revealed 15 years Yuan Resources Limited
Projects Approved by the FEC in May 2024 with corresponding project description. Source: Presidency
In the outcome of the meeting, the Presidency released a statement communicating the details of decisions made, but decided to leave out some key information.For example, the Presidency refused to disclose how much was paid to Yuan Resources Limited for the 15-year concession to deploy a revenue assurance platform for the lottery and gaming industry.
Additionally, it withheld the name of the contractor and the duration of some approved projects, such as the street lights on Bill Clinton Drive, Airport Expressway. Attempts to get these information out by the Premium Times for the sake of transparency were futile.
However, after the meeting on May 14, Mariya Mahmoud, the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, provided details in an address to correspondents in Abuja.
According to Leadership newspaper, Mahmoud specified that the contract for providing backup generators for streetlights in the Federal Capital Territory was awarded to Contracts People Nigeria Limited.
Combining information from the minister’s address and the Presidency’s statement, FIJ discovered rather odd details about these contracts, including the ineligibility of Contracts People Nigeria Limited and the lack of a track record for Yuan Resources Limited.
CONTRACTS PEOPLE NIGERIA LIMITED IS INELIGIBLE FOR A CONTRACT
Contracts People Nigeria Limited, which was awarded a N412 million contract by the Federal Government to install streetlights in Abuja, is ineligible for government contracts in 2024, according to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).Under the 2007 Procurement Act, the BPP is tasked with maintaining a national database of federal contractors and service providers, and it has exclusive authority to classify and categorize companies on this register.
Contract People Limited is not Compliant and thus ineligible for a contract. Source: BPP Contractors Database
Due to the controversy surrounding the contractor’s identity, FIJ checked the BPP’s database and found that Contracts People Nigeria Limited has not fulfilled its obligations to pay Industrial Training Fund (ITF).
This non-compliance is a violation of Section 16(d) of the 2007 Procurement Act, which requires that a bidder must have fulfilled all obligations related to taxes, pensions, social security contributions, and other employee-related commitments to be eligible for public contracts.
The company, which was registered in July 2021, was also barely three years old at the time that the contract was awarded. Given the technical expertise required for this project, the contract contravenes the Procurement Act mandating procuring entities to have a three-year clearance before receiving government contracts.
YUAN RESOURCES LIMITED WAS REGISTERED AFTER GETTING A CONCESSIONAIRE
Although the cost was not specified, the Federal Government signed a 15-year concession agreement with Yuan Resource Limited to deploy a revenue assurance platform in the gambling and lottery industry.According to the Federal Government, the agreement is structured as a Public-Private Partnership and will be executed using the Design, Finance, Build, Operate, and Transfer (DFBOT) model.
This decision sparked considerable backlash from state gambling regulatory agencies. Some of them argued that the Federal Government may be overstepping its bounds and interfering with the constitutionally provided authority of states to regulate their own gambling industries.
More curiously, checks by FIJ revealed that the company in question, Yuan Resources Limited, was not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission at the time the concession was announced.
Per the records of the CAC, it was only registered in June, nearly a month after the Federal Government reached an agreement with it. Additionally, no records were found for this company on the database of Bureau of Public Procurement, raising the possibility of the Federal Government violating procurement laws or due process by engaging a company with no prior registration or track record.
