By Akinloye Oyeniyi. While not joining issues, it will be worrisome if relevant sections of Nigerians and keen watchers of our oil and gas ...
By Akinloye Oyeniyi.
While not joining issues, it will be worrisome if relevant sections of Nigerians and keen watchers of our oil and gas industry are not put through on the response of the NNPC GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru.
Policies on public procurement are enshrined in the relevant laws and regulations governing procurement in Nigeria, which include Public Procurement Act 2007 and Procurement Procedures Manual.
The Public Procurement Act 2007 provides procurement guidance to all Federal Ministries, extra-mimisterial agencies, departments, agencies, parastatals, corporations and other public entities set up by the constitution or Acts of the National Assembly and/ or whose funding derives from the Federation Accounts, their own internally generated revenue, the Federation share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and special allocations in the federal budget or being entities outside of the foregoing description, derive at least 35% of the funds appropriated or proposed to be appropriated for any type of procurement described in the Public Procurement Act 2007, which NNPC is one.
The Procurement Act 2007 borders on Efficiency, Fairness, Transparency, Accountability and Ethical Standards, and way and manner such procurement shall be conducted, and the entities like Tenders Board with powers to so do; and any procurement system that fails to take into consideration these relevant sections, stimulates hesitation to compete, submission of inflated tenders containing a risk premium, or submission of deflated tenders followed by delayed or defective performance, collusion in bribery, bad value for money, and betrayal and abuse of the public trust for personal gain.
These are what Dr. Kachikwu's leaked memo to the President sought to achieve among other things, and also to promote application of fair and competitive standards and ethical practices. But in his public response to the private memo to the President, it is clear to all fair-minded persons that the attempt of the NNPC GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru to defend himself is unconvincing, clear embarrassment to the person of President Buhari, his dream of sanctified institutions, and our dear constitution. The response to the issues raised in the leaked memo to the President is a potpourri of contradictions, distortions, and clear breaches of facts and logic.
In his public response,
DR. BARU CLAIMED THAT BASED ON THE RULES AND REGULATIONS, HE DOES NOT NEED TO CONSULT WITH DR. KACHIKWU AS MINISTER OF STATE OR THE NNPC BOARD WHICH Dr. KACHIKWU CHAIRS.
The ministerial issue as viewed by Dr. Baru lacked substance. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 3rd alteration is very on the the Powers of the the President of the Federal Republic. By virtue of Section 130(2) of the Constitution, “the President shall be the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation,” and by virtue of Section 148 (1) of the Constitution, “the President may, in his discretion, assign to the Vice-President or any Minister of the Government of the Federation responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including the administration of any department of government.”,
So by the enshrinement of that Section 148(1) above, and the supremacy of the Constitution according to Section 1 sub-section (1), Dr. Baru's submission as regards Dr. Kachikwu's role as an appointed Minister by Mr. President is wrong, null, void and inconsistent with the constitution to the extent of its inconsistency.
Again apart from the fact that every Boards of parastatals, extra-ministerial or corporations etc are the supervisory entities of such, the NNPC Act in Sections below are clear.
"S.1. (1) There shall be established a corporation by the name of the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (hereinafter in the Act referred to as "the Corporation") which shall be a body
corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue or be sued in its corporate
name.
(2) The affairs of the Corporation shall be conducted by a Board of
Directors of the Corporation which shall consist of a Chairman and the following other
members, that is-
(a) the Director-General, Federal Ministry of Finance and Economic Development;
(b) the Managing Director of the Corporation; and
(c) three persons to be appointed by the National Council of Ministers, being persons who
by reason of their ability, experience or specialised knowledge of the oil industry or of
business or professional attain."
Sub-section (2) of the Act is clear that the NNPC Board has overall supervisory powers over the corporation. How can these supervisory powers not include some kind of oversight on contracts worth billions of dollars?
HOW CAN THE NNPC TENDERS' BOARD APPOINTED BY DR. BARU BE RESPONSIBLE FOR APPROVING HIS CONTRACTS?
The Dr. Baru's claim that the NNPC Tenders Board, and not the NNPC Board is the right body to approve such contracts in question, is also false.
According to Public Procurement Act Section below
"S.20.—(1) The accounting officer of a procuring entity shall be the person charged
with line supervision of the conduct of all procurement processes ; in the case of
ministries the Permanent Secretary and in the case of extra-ministerial departments
and corporations the Director-General or officer of co-ordinate responsibility.
(2) The accounting officer of every procuring entity shall have overall
responsibility for the planning of, organization of tenders, evaluation of tenders and
execution of all procurement... "
Apart from the GMD as the appointor of the Tenders Board which he also chairs, his duty is purely to plan, organise, evaluate, execute and supervise the conduct of "procurement processes" and not to approve contracts above his threshold under the seal of the Corporation. He cannot plan, organise, evaluate, execute procurement process, approve and execute approved projects. He lacks the statutory capacity to be the sole determinant of due process in the corporation. But after the approval by the NNPC Board, President or the FEC, it is worthy of note that the Tenders Board according to Public Procurement Act in Section 22. - (3) "The Tenders Board shall be responsible for the award of procurements of goods, works and services within the threshold set in the regulations." albeit under the seal of the NNPC Board according to the First Schedule, Part A, Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the NNPC Act which says:
"11. The fixing of the seal of the Corporation shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman
and any other person authorised in that behalf by the Board.
12. Any contract or instrument, which if made or executed by any person not being a body corporate
would not be required to be under seal, may be made or executed on behalf of the Corporation by
any person generally or specially authorised to act for that purpose by the Board.
13. Any document purporting to be a contract, instrument or other document duly signed or sealed on
behalf of the Corporation shall be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, be
presumed without further proof to have been so signed and sealed."
IT IS NOT TRUE THAT DR. KACHIKWU AS NNPC GMD DID THE SAME THINGS THAT BARU IS DOING
At the inception of Dr. Kachikwu term as the GMD NNPC, there was no NNPC Board in place, and this void could remember Dr. Kachikwu bridged by briefing the President weekly on all key issues, so all actions and activities were sanctioned by Mr. President. Beyond that it is also on record that, Dr. Kachikwu as the then GMD of NNPC instituted a culture of transparency at all levels which culminating to monthly publications of the operational activities and briefings of stakeholders of the Corporation. Though this practice which is a key component of the Buhari administration in oil and gas reform plan has since ended with his exit as the GMD.
HOW CAN NNPC BOARD OVERSEE BUDGET WITHOUT INFORMATION?
All budget experts will agree with me that there is no way a Board without budget estimates could sit on any budget. Dr. Baru admitted that one of the NNPC Board’s statutory responsibilities is overseeing the budget. How can the Board perform this function if it has no information or input about contracts to be executed?
WHY WAS DR. BARU SILENT ON THE CONTROVERSIAL APPOINTMENTS HE MADE WITHOUT BRIEFING THE BOARD?
It is noteworthy that Dr. Baru was silent on the issue of the appointments which he carried out without informing the NNPC Board, and were not subsequently ratified by the Board. His silence confirmed the appointments were irregular and wrong.
DR. BARU HIDING BEHIND LEGALITY TO JUSTIFY WRONG ACTIONS
The truth is, there are no standards of transparency and due process that will allow NNPC to award contracts of that magnitude without carrying the NNPC Board along. Due process is about being open not taking refuge behind distorted and convenient interpretations of the rules.
Due process is not just about the letter of the law. It is also about the spirit of the law. People who have nothing to hide, welcome the opportunity to share information with relevant stakeholders. As they say transparency is the best deodorant.
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