The immediate past Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Alhaji Mohammed Bukar, has been reportedly asked to account for the whereabout of a total sum of N2.5 billion budgeted for road contracts between the period of 2017 to 2018.
The former Permanent Secretary who served under the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, was alleged to have mismanaged the sum of N2.5 billion.
This was contained in a government report cited by SaharaReporters. According to the report, the Federal Ministry of works allegedly awarded the N2.5bn contract without the knowledge of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Similarly, acording to an annual report of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the accounts of the Federation of Nigeria for the year ended, December 31, 2018, Bukar was alleged to have awarded several contracts beyond his threshold.
The report alleged that a contract of N343 million was unduly awarded for the purchase of monitoring vehicles. The report further disclosed that the “N343,833,338 was paid for the purchase of 36 project monitoring vehicles without following due process. Further examination revealed that the 36 vehicles were not received into store as there was no documents to show such delivery.”
However, no official statement has been released either by the former Permanent Secretary or the Federal Ministry of works, regarding the allegations as of press time.
The report partly reads, “Issue one; Contract for the purchase of project monitoring vehicles without due process – N343,833,338.00. Section 24(1) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 states that “except as provided by this Act, all procurements of goods and works by all procuring entities shall be conducted by open competitive bidding.
“Audit observed that the sum of N343,833,338 was paid for the purchase of 36 project monitoring vehicles without following due process. Further examination revealed that the 36 vehicles were not received into store as there was no documents to show such delivery.
“The Permanent Secretary is required to account for the sum of N343,833,338.00. All affected officials should be sanctioned in line with Financial Regulation 3106.
“Issue two: The Public Procurement Act 2007 Section 16 states “Subject to any exemption allowed by this Act, all public procurement shall be conducted: (a) subject to the prior review thresholds as may from time to time beset by the Bureau pursuant to Section 7(1) (a)-(b).
“The audit observed that N2,500,000,000 contract was awarded by the Ministry in violation of Bureau of public procurements revised threshold for service wide application which requires approval from the Federal Executive Council.
“The Ministry awarded the contract without Federal Executive Council approval in violation of chapter 16 (I) of the public procurement act 2007.
“The Permanent Secretary is required to account for the sum of N289,461,035.44 paid in breach of Public Procurement act 2007, Section 16(2). Sanctions in line with Financial Regulation 3106 should apply to all affected officials.”
It would be recalled that the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, had disclosed that the anti-graft agency recovered a sum of N1 billion from a Permanent Secretary in the same Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.
The EFCC Chairman had in May while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance said the agency recovered over N1 billion from the bank account of a civil servant, but stopped short of revealing the name.
Bawa made the disclosure while appearing before the Senate Committee on Finance, investigating the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and payment of 1 % stamp duty by contractors on all contracts awarded by MDAs between 2014- 2020.
The New Diplomat earlier reported that Bawa had on Thursday disclosed that the anti-graft agency has so far recovered over N6 billion, 30 real estate properties and 32 automobiles between March and June this year
