Nigeria saved N659bn on contracts – BPP

A total of N658,886,962,004.01 (Six hundred and fifty-eight billion, eight hundred and eighty-six million, nine hundred and sixty-two thousand and four naira, one kobo only) was saved between 2009 and 2014 from contracts awarded by agencies of the Federal Government.

This was disclosed by Emeka Ezeh, director-general, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), at the ongoing 55th annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.

In his presentation at the Panel Session on “Ending the Scourge of Abandoned Projects in Nigeria,” Ezeh outlined the role of the BPP in project development, stating that such savings were made possible through the Bureau’s prior reviews of contracts awarded.

Members of the panel, which was chaired by Aminu Dikko, director-general, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), included the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works, Dauda Kigbu; a former Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice of Lagos State, Lawal Pedro; chairman of the Bi-Courtney Group, Wale Babalakin, and Temilola Kenhinde of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN).

Ezeh said of the 557 complaints received from contractors during the period in review, 365 had been resolved.

He said abandoned projects include both those for huge infrastructure and small contracts in different parts of the country embarked upon by different tiers of government.

He listed challenges in the provision of infrastructure to include: Contract splitting especially for low-value contracts, Use of fake documents by bidders, Multiple ownership of companies by bidders, High level of connivance by MDAs with the contractors, especially for low-value contracts, Long delays in investigation and prosecution of cases, Capacity gaps in MDAs and contractors and Delays in payments for jobs duly certified.