Leon Usigbe
27 September 2007
Abuja — THE nine-man ad-hoc committee of the House of Representatives that investigated the N628 million controversial contracts for the renovation of the official residences of the Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, and her deputy, Mr Babangida Nguroje, as well as the purchase of utility vehicles for principal officers of the House has declared that due process was violated in the award of the contracts.
Although the chairman of the committee, Mr David Idoko, said the panel's conclusion did not mean indictment of the Speaker, the report he submitted to the House yesterday said: "Based on the committee's evaluation, the committee concluded that due process was not completely followed in the awards of the contracts based on the following:
Highlights
•The tender was not advertised
• No in-house Bill of Quantities and drawings (architectural, structural, electrical and mechanical) as such, there was no basis for arriving at the approved contract sums;
•No specific budgetary provision for renovation and furnishing of the official residence of the Speaker and Deputy in the 2007 Budget; No specific budgetary provision for the purchase of vehicles for the principal officers in the 2007 Budget;
•The procedure for the award by the Body of Principal Officers on the 12th July 2007 shows major act of omission and disregard for laid down procedure;
•The memoranda for the award of contracts presented at the meeting of the Body of Principal Officers on 12th July 2007 were raised before some of the questions for the jobs were processed;
•Some of the companies that sent quotations were not registered with Corporate Affairs Commission. They, therefore, lacked capacity to compete for the contracts in question since the law does not recognize them as persons;
•It appears that some principal officers were excluded from the meeting of 12th July by not serving them notice for the meeting particularly the Minority Leadership;
•The contract sum of N238,852,152.00 in respect of the renovation and furnishing of the residence of Speaker was for the main house and not inclusive of cluster of structures in the compound; and
•All quotations relating to the renovation and furnishing contracts directed to the office of the
Speaker and those directed to the office of the Clerk to the National Assembly were first acted upon by the Hon. Speaker for the attention of the Clerk to the National Assembly directing him to process.
Summary of report
The report noted that the committee's conclusions were based on facts available to it and it summarized them as follows:
•On the basis of the documents submitted to the Committee and oral testimonies obtained from witnesses, the facts of the investigated contracts are itemized as follows:
(i) The contracts for the renovation and furnishing of the official residences of the Hon. Speaker and Deputy Speaker were approved by the body of Principal Officers at a meeting held on the 12th July 2007.
(ii) The contracts for the supply of vehicles to Principal Officers of the House were also approved by the body of Principal Officers at that same meeting.
(iii) The meeting of the body of Principal Officers was summoned through a Notice of Meeting dated 11th July 2007, and was addressed to 9 principal officers, Chairman Ad Hoc Committee on Welfare and 7 Senior Management staff of the National Assembly.
(iv) The meeting was scheduled for 12th July 2007 at 1.30 pm, but it commenced earlier at 12 noon on the same date on the instruction of the Hon. Speaker, Chairman of the body of Principal Officers.
(v) The meeting was attended by only 4 Principal Officers (Hon. Speaker, Hon. Deputy Speaker, Chief Whip, and Deputy Majority Leader), Chairman of Welfare Ad-Hoc Committee, and 8 Management Staff of the National Assembly.
(vi) Six Principal Officers were not at the meeting; some of them stated that they did not receive the notice of meeting. The principal officers not at the meeting were the leader of the House, Deputy Chief Whip, Minority Leader, Minority Whip, Deputy Minority Leader, and Deputy Minority Whip.
(vii) The meeting approved award of contracts as follows:
a. Renovation of the Speaker's residence to State Co. Nig. Ltd at the cost of N238,852,279.00 (Two hundred and thirty-eight million, eight hundred and fifty-two thousand, two hundred and seventy-nine naira only).
b. Renovation of Deputy Speaker's residence to M/S Lee Development Nig. Ltd at the cost of N90,296,225.25 (Ninety million, two hundred and ninety-six thousand, two hundred and twenty-five naira and twenty-five kobo only).
c.Supply of 10 No. Toyota Land Cruiser to M/S Kymco Motors Co. Ltd at the cost of N123,000,000 (One hundred and twenty-three million naira only), and M/S Bras Ventures Ltd at the total cost of N49,600,000.00 (Forty-nine million, six hundred thousand naira only).
d. Furnishing of the official residence of the Hon. Speaker to M/S Victogenuel Nig. Ltd at the cost of N71,895,000.00 (Seventy-one million, eight hundred and ninety-five thousand naira only).
e.Furnishing of the official residence of the Hon. Deputy Speaker to M/S Lee Development Nig. Ltd at the cost of N55,200,000 (Fifty-five million, two hundred thousand naira only).
(viii) An advance payment in the sum of N53,741,743.00 (Fifty-three million seven hundred and forty-one thousand, seven hundred and forty-three naira only) representing 25% of the total contract sum was paid to Messrs Stateco. Nig. Ltd. in respect of the renovation and furnishing contract for the Hon. Speaker's Residence, which was covered by a Fidelity Plc bank guarantee for a value of N181,982,623.20 (One hundred and eighty-one million, nine hundred and eighty-two, six hundred and twenty-three naira twenty kobo only).
(ix) The Committee visited the official residences of Hon. Speaker and Hon. Deputy Speaker where Members were conducted round by the Deputy Director Works of the National Assembly and his staff which included: a Chief Electrical Engineer; b.Chief Mechanical Engineer; c. Chief Architect; d. Snr Quantity Surveyor; and e. Asst. Chief Building Officer.
(x) The Deputy Director Estate and Works Department confirmed the receipt of the Committee's letter concerning the suspension of work in the two official residences and Members reiterated the Committee's decision that work on the residences should be suspended, pending the outcome of the Committee investigation. It was further directed that the stop order be pasted on the walls of the affected Residences if contractors could not be reached.
(xi) The execution of all the contracts in question remain suspended pending the outcome of this investigation.
Panel reviewed all letters on contracts
The panel in its report also said it reviewed all documents relating to the award of the contracts to ascertain compliance with the guidelines.
Its words: "The Ad-Hoc Committee mandated to investigate the contracts began with two letters dated 6th June, 2006 referred to as Annex 19A and 19B signed by one Idris M. Mahdi for Clerk to the National Assembly addressed to the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Administration, Abuja.
"The letter requested for the 'furnishing of official residence of the Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives at Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja' and 'Taking Over of Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker's Residences at Apo Legislative Quarters, Abuja."(See Annexure 19a & 19b).
"In response to the said letters referred to above, the Executive Secretary/Chairman, FCT Transition Committee Engr M S Alhassan, FNSE, by a letter dated 15th June, 2007 addressed to the Senate Leader, National Assembly, Abuja and copied to the Clerk to the National Assembly informing National Assembly Management that the general provisions in the FCT 2007 budget are inadequate and therefore cannot accommodate the cost of furnishing the houses of the officers under consideration.
"The Executive Secretary further suggested that National Assembly should consider other ways of funding the project.
"The Committee having gone through Annexure 16 observed a typographical error on the second page of the document under a sub-heading scope of work 'S(i)' Mercedes Benz 5320 which is supposed to mean Mercedes Benz S320. While scrutinizing the documents, the Committee also observed as follows:
i That the invitation for tender did not meet the requirement of the relevant provisions of the FGN Financial Regulations. It also noted that a fundamental aspect under "vital information" that stipulates tendering process is based on Federal Government of Nigeria Contracting guidelines.
ii. That Notice of Meeting was properly raised by the Secretary Tenders Board but was not served due to some constraints.
i.That the minutes of meeting of the body of principal officers of the House of Representatives held on the 12th July, 2007 at the office of the Honourable Speaker, National Assembly Complex, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, had underlisted persons in attendance:
1. Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh
2. Hon. Babangida Saidu Ngoroje
3. Hon. Bethel Amadi
4. Hon. Baba Shehu Agaie
5. Hon. Wale Adegoke
6. Alh. Nasiru I Arab
7. Mr O. Ogunyomi
8. Mr Niyi Ajiboye
9. Idris M Mahdi
10. Alh. M. A. Sani-Omolori
11. Mr O. Adelami
12. Mr C. J. Osman
ii. That the minutes reflected neither "Apology" nor "Absent". Also no explanation was given as to why some Members were absent without apology. It was also observed that the meeting commenced one and a half hours earlier than the scheduled time.
iii. The decision reached at the meeting shows that contracts were approved for award as follows:
a.Renovation of the Official Residence of the Honourable Speaker's Residence to M/s Stateco. Nig. Ltd in the total sum of N238,852,192.95;
b. Renovation of Honourable Deputy Speaker's Official Residence to M/S Lee Development Nig. Ltd in the total sum of N90,296,225.25;
c. Supply of motor vehicles: (i) 10 Nos. of Toyota land Cruiser by Kymco Motors co. Ltd in the sum of N123,000,000; (ii) 2 No. Mercedes Benz car S.320 (Black) by M/s Bras Ventures Ltd in the total sum of N49,600,000;
d. Furnishing of the Hon. Speaker's Residence to M/S Victogenuel Nig. Ltd in the sum of N71,895,000.00; and
e. Furnishing of the official residence of the Hon. Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to M/S Lee Development Nig. Ltd in the sum of N55,200,000.00.
iv. That four out of six Members endorsed the Minutes of the Meeting and the remaining two did not sign against their names.
Panel report not an indictment
But, the chairman noted that "for the avoidance of doubt, our report has not indicted the Hon. Speaker and any other leader of the House for any wrongdoing. Indeed, we have no reason to do that.
"Let me emphasize that our mandate was to examine the award of the contracts in question and bring the facts before the House. Our mandate did not in any way require us to indict anyone or make recommendations for punishment(s).
"In view of this, our report has examined the whole of contracts and brought out the facts before the House to take appropriate measure(s). Our main findings are laid out in the conclusion of the Main Report.
"The House may in its wisdom appoint another committee to examine our conclusions and make recommendations with a view to reforming the administration of contracts in the House of Representatives so that the controversy that trailed the contracts under reference can be avoided."
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