The Minister of Works and
Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, said that there was no case of inflation
under him.
The Bureau of Public Procurement
(BPP) had declared that saved more than N26.86 billion for the Federal
Government in 2018 alone, by revising down inflated contract sums by government
contractors.
BPP in its 2018 annual report
listed affected ministries included Transport and Power, Works and Housing
headed by Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Lagos and
Rivers, respectively.
According to the report, the
savings were from the review of contracts awarded to contractors by various
Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) before being given a certificate of
“No Objection’’ by the bureau.
“Of the savings made, the highest
amount of N22.22 billion was recorded from the Ministry of Power, Works and
Housing. The money was saved from an initial request of N877.40 billion”, it
read.
In a statement on Monday by
Hakeem Bello, Fashola’s spokesperson, the minister said that there has been
“misleading” report of the issue in the media.
“Being a department of the same
government, ordinarily this should not warrant a reply; however the misleading
nature of the reporting in the media and the statements credited to BPP compel
a response for the purposes of clarification and enlightenment of the public,”
the statement said.
“Any person who takes time to
read the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, which created the BPP will
understand that no contract can be awarded until BPP certifies that it has no
objection.
“Therefore there was no inflated
contract because BPP clearly stated that it reduced the costs, and according to
BPP she “… saved over N26 Billion…” And this is the heart of the matter because
BPP’s “ savings” can only be a subjective assessment based on rates quoted by
contractors, reviewed by the Ministry, and sent to BPP for certification.”
“Once rates are published and
design is known, quantities can be ascertained and costs can be determined.
“This is the field of Quantity
Surveyors and Construction Economists, and the Minister of Works and Housing
has not made any secret about his call for a revision of the Public Procurement
Act to resolve this and other gaps in the Law.
“Indeed, during the first term of
this Administration, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing had commissioned
the compilation of a service-wide Rate of major items of procurement from the
largest to the smallest for BPP to consider, adopt or amend and publish.”
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