Leadership (Abuja)
Philip Nyam
20 September 2007
Abuja — Honourable Patricia Olubunmi Etteh has said she did not approve a contract for the supply of body massage machines to the House of Representatives costing N98 million.
The speaker of the house spoke exclusively to Leadership last night in response to a statement made by the acting clerk of the house, Mr. Niyi Ajiboye, who told the panel investigating the residence renovation contracts that he turned down a request from her office for a N98 million body massager.
Mr Ajiboye, who appeared before the panel yesterday, stated that those involved in the body massage contract saga almost sought for his head when he advised that it was not a legislative request.
He told the panel, "Let me tell you that a request for a body massager with a cost price of N98 million was even presented to me from the office of the speaker. I advised that it is not our priority and it is not legislative business. I turned the body massager request down. And when I did that, they sought for my head".
Ajiboye disclosed that what is happening is not a new thing, adding, "What happened in this case is not a new thing. It has been happening.
"Sometimes there are requests by members for sponsorship to travel to the United States, which has nothing to do with the legislative business. But I turn it down and they will not like it. I am not aware of the House budget, I don't know about the records. The Honourable Speaker does not have to consult me about renovation. I was not consulted.
"I agree with the content of the memo and I don't have any need to quarrel with it. They have done their job very well. A quorum was formed. The meeting was properly constituted. The memos were presented one after the other and justification sought and I did not see any thing untoward. As I have said, I will still affirm that there was nothing untoward in the award of the contract.
"I believe that there was nothing extraordinary. I believe there is a political undertone in the whole matter. The issue of renovation is not purely the function of the clerk. I wouldn't know and nobody in the House will know when the house in question was renovated. To me, vetting is part of due process. Due process is a chain reaction."
Ajiboye explained further: "There are guidelines, and there must be guidelines. This is what is obtains in the National Assembly. It has never been followed. It does not exist. In the circumstance, we tried to follow the procedure.
"We are bureaucrats. We operate in a difficult and different environment for the progress of the legislature. Like I said, I did not initiate the memo.
"An expert presented it, so I have no competence to question the memo. I don't have competence to doubt the capability of the technical people that visited the place. I visited that house last May, shortly before the last session was dissolved. I don't know when it was pasted or not on the notice boards. I don't know whether it was placed and I believe it. They did not show me the advert."
But when Leadership sought Mrs. Etteh's reaction to Mr. Ajiboye's statement last night, she told our correspondent that the acting clerk was being quoted out of context.
She explained that because of the number of contract proposals reaching her office all the time, she and the acting clerk agreed that she would pass all contract proposals to him for his recommendation on which proposals to consider based on availability of funds and need.
Mrs Etteh was emphatic that passing the massage machine contract proposal to the acting clerk did not mean that she had approved it.
She added that even when she assumed duty as speaker, she discovered that about six massage machines had been bought in the house and were lying about in the store.
As such there was no way that she would have approved the purchase of such machines again, she said.
Mrs Etteh said in any case she was going to appear before the panel today, Thursday, and respond to any question relating to the massage machine contract proposal and other matters.
Meanwhile, following the controversy trailing the award of contract for the upgrading of the speaker and deputy speaker's residence, three contractors handling the projects have withdrawn from the contract even as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has revealed that some of the contractors did not register with the commission.
The assistant director, registry in the CAC, Mrs Chinwe Dike, who disclosed the status of the companies involved in the contracts while testifying before the nine-man probe panel yesterday, explained that some of the contractors did not register with the commission.
"We went into our records when the commission was contacted and it was discovered that some of the contractors failed to meet up with the laid down laws by not registering with the commission," she said.
However, three of the contractors yesterday announced their intention to withdraw from the contract due to the controversy that trailed the contract right from inception.
The representatives of the contractors, who appeared before the panel, explained that they were no longer interested in the contracts.
In the same vein, the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) appeared before the committee and owned up that the properties belong to them, but that when the letter for the renovation came, there was no money and a letter was written in that direction.
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