ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, on Wednesday gave its nod to the the Niger Delta Ministry to probe contract scam totaling about N388 billion.
The Ministry submitted a report on the probe it carried out in the ministry between its inception in 2009 and 2015, which showed massive contract scams from the N700 billion released to the ministry within the period.
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani, briefing State House correspondents at the post-FEC meeting, said a dismal 12 percent (about N388 billion) of contract performance was recorded out of the N423 billion expended in the region by the ministry alone, aside other intervening agencies.
According to him, council has approved that the ministry goes ahead with the recommendations which include to recover the outstanding balance from the contractors or have them prosecuted.
Usani said “the revealing content of the report shows that over N423 billion has been expended in the region by the Ministry alone, not other intervening agencies.
“From this amount, project execution rate has been at 12 percent, with an average completion rate of a project standing at five years and the impact rate is eight percent.
“So, today we have sought approval from Council to have the recommendations of this report conveyed to the legitimate agencies charged with the statutory responsibilities of recovering government assets that are either misappropriated, misused or found to be idling in some quarters.
“With this, it means all those who have accessed government resources for one purpose or another must be compelled to make adequate use of same, otherwise face the recommendations that go with such violations, and that is our position concerning that report. And we have got Council approval for that.”
The minister explained that the figures mean that 60 percent of the funds appropriated for 427 contracts were paid out to contractors who only managed a 12 percent completion rate.
“When we say 60 percent, it is 60 percent of the amount of money that was actually appropriated, being N700 billion. And so, 60 percent of that constitutes N423 billion.
“So, to find that N423 billion has been expended in the region with the type of result we see obviously shows that there is something tangibly and obviously wrong with how procurement had been carried out in the Ministry”, he stated.
On the punishment to be meted to defaulting contractors, Usani clarified that “the measure of action to be taken to address the shortfall of our expectations of commitment to contractual commitments will be the determinant of what will be done.
“So, those that require sanctions will be sanctioned; and the sanctions may not be uniform, it will also be according to the measure of liabilities owed by each of those contractors.
“Some should be compelled to return to site. Some, of course, should be made to refund money – those who we have seen by action displaying criminal intent by collecting money and not appearing at site at all.
“The report is not just all about punishing people. There are also those who have performed well and are commended and the report recommends that they should be encouraged to carry on in their contractual commitments.”
He also declared that officials like those of evaluation or monitoring personnel the Ministry found to have connived with the defaulting contractors will be approximately dealt with although he won’t confirm any impending purge of officials.
Council also approved a joint venture agreement between the Federal Government and May & Baker PLC to produce vaccines in the country from 2017-2021.
The equity participation will be 51 per cent from May &Baker, and 49 percent from the Federal Government with an initial take-off capital of N100 billion and equity contributions of N1.3 billion and N1.27 billion respectively.
The government would be using existing facility at the Federal Vaccine Production Laboratory Lagos, as its equity, which has been valued by by Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, to be about N1.27 billion.
Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole said the board of the company will comprise seven people, four from May and
Baker and three from the federal government.
“FEC approved joint venture agreement between the federal government and Baker Plc to produce vaccines from 2017-2021.
“The Federal Government is using existing facility at the Federal Vaccine Production Lab, Lagos, as our equity. And that has been costed by Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, is about N1.27 billion and May and Baker will put in about N1.3 billion in keeping with the 51, 49 per cent equity participation.
“Between 1940-1991, Nigeria was not only producing vaccines such has smallpox, yellow fever, and anti-rabbis vaccines but we also exported to Cameroon, Central African Republic and a few other countries.
“In 1991 the Vaccine Production Laboratory stopped production ostensibly because government wanted to reactivate and upgrade the facility which did not take place till today. What council did today was to was put live into this joint venture agreement that proposes to
establish a company called bio-vaccines LTD which will be jointly owned by federal government of Nigeria and May and Becker Plc” he said.
Adewole who briefed alongside the ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Science and Technology, Ogbonaya Onu and Niger Delta, Usani Usani, said the partnership will take off this year.
He explained that the FEC would allow the Attorney General of the Federation to perfect the agreement and “hopefully in the next two
weeks we should sign this agreement and once the agreement is signed we are ready to fly”.
According to him, the agreement was to further secure the lives of Nigerians since the present administration now considers the production of vaccines as a security issue.
“We have considered vaccines as a security issue, it is not only health but we need to consider the security of all Nigerians particularly our children. So, with this agreement, we will be able to produce those command vaccines and from 2021 and beyond every other vaccine that is necessary will also be out on board for administration to Nigerians. We are quite happy that today it has taken place and we believe that Nigeria has started a journey to vaccines security” he said.
Adewole also briefed the council on the meningitis outbreak adding that the country was almost at the end of it. “What we are now doing is to now prepare to ensure that this does not repeat itself next year” he added.
He also briefed Council on the unfortunate incident where a body was flown into the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo, by Kenya Airways.
According to him, the body was brought in without the necessary approval. “The standard procedure is that for you to fly in a body into Nigeria you need a waiver, a sort of approval issued by a federal ministry of health” and this was not sought.
He assured Nigerians that the body tested negative to Ebola and any of the hemorrhagic fevers adding “We know the cause of death but for confidential reasons we do not have to disclose it. But it is nothing really to worry about”.
The Minister of Science and Technology, said government was determined to end importation of raw materials and products which has in the past had very adverse effects on the economy particularly as it concerns job creation and the search for self-reliance.
According to him, between 2000 and 2015, Nigeria spent as much as N49 trillion importing raw materials and products.
“At that time, not that it was sustainable, but our economy could manage such level of importation because crude oil sold most of the time above $100 per barrel. But definitely now, such level of importation is unsustainable but we are paying a price right now because if we have depended on our own raw materials, we would have had a service. With the sharp drop in the prices of crude oil, Nigeria would not have been able to withstand such a shock and we would not have had such problem that we are passing through now.
“So, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology is determined to change the direction that Nigeria is passing through. In the past 56 years, we have depended on foreign commodities. We have relied on importation. We have sacrificed jobs. We now want to move our economy away from that into innovation driven-economy. So, Raw Materials Processing and Development Council, one of the agencies under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology had to undertake very important study. Before the study was done, there was extensive consultation with research institutes, countries and universities, businesses, industries, governments at all levels to determine our level of dependence on outside products and to find a way we can stop this.”