Facts emerged on Tuesday that President Muhammadu Buhari terminated the controversial appointment of Pre-shipment Inspection Agents (PIA) which was approved three days before the expiration of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
President Buhari’s decision was in line with paragraph 12(2b) of the contract agreement signed between Federal Government and the PIAs, which stated that: “the pre-shipment inspection contracts so signed shall be deemed terminated upon any change of government bringing an end to the life of the preceding government.”
According to a letter issued by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), with reference No: FD/LS/0167/III/DF dated 12th May, 2017 sent to the Chairman, House Committee on Public Procurement, Oluwole Oke, and obtained by BusinessDay, total sum of N70,053,195,868.22 was paid by the 11 PIAs between January 2011 and April 2017.
According to the letter signed by Ahmed Idris, AGF, Colbalt International Services Ltd paid N11,307,644,156.71; JBIS Integrated Resources Ltd paid N15,206,397,092.42; Global Scansystems Ltd paid N14,120,797,979.28; Arlington Securitas paid N8,495,355,177.67; Robinson Internal Energy Ltd paid N6,099,409,893.12; Swede Control Intertek Ltd paid N5,623,500,645.53; Candid Oil Services Ltd paid N2,929,587,557.59; Trobell International Ltd paid N2,537,273,056.24; Gulf Inspection Service Ltd paid N799,829,808.57; Carmaine Asseyer Ltd paid N163,306,953.60 while total sum of N2,779,093,557 was added as schedule of outstanding claims.
Idris further explained that the role of the oAGF “is limited Topsy mentioned facilitation, based on submission of requests and approval in the agents policy files maintained at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Evaluation of the agents request/bills is done by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Ministry of Finance. However, payments could only be effected based on available cash flow in the dedicated NESS (Oil & Gas) account maintained and operated with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
In his testimony, Muhammad Wanka, Managing Director of Arlington Securitas, which paid the sum of N8,495,355,177.67, who alleged that the pre-shipment inspection contracts terminated by Federal Ministry of Finance in September 2015, however confirmed that the contract letters were signed by President Jonathan on the 26th May, 2015.
Wanka who confirmed signing the contract papers, however noted that despite the termination of the contract, his company did not stop working since the approval was for two years without payment from government.
While speaking, Ibrahim Dutse (APC-Jigawa) blamed the Finance Minister for the development and losses recorded by the companies having failed to appoint a replacement before disengaging them.
On his part, Bulus Maren however observed that the decision of Allington and others like it to keep carrying out inspection was out of their own volition having being disengaged.
“Whatever Allignton or any of the affected firms did in the absence of a running contract was purely volunteerism on behalf of the country,” Maren said, just as he thanked the companies for their charity and selfless services to Nigeria.
Also at the hearing, Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to the committee traded blames over the submission of Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) on the pre-qualification of companies for pre-shipment inspection.
In his remarks, Mamman Ahmad, BPP Director General explained that approvals were given to companies based on verification of their particulars, including compliance certificates issued by NSITF.
However, Adebayo Somefun, NSITF Managing Director who disagreed with his BPP counterpart, disclosed that majority of the companies approved for pre-shipment inspection did not meet minimum requirements for the pre-qualification.
According to him, THK Limited, a company adjudged to be the best in the pre-qualification exercise (bidding process) as well as Robinson International Energy Limited were excluded from the NSITF compliance list.
Likewise, Robinson International Energy Limited also defaulted in the performance rating of National Pension Commission (PenCom) as well as tax clearance certificate.
While reacting to the development, Oluwole Oke who presided over the session, chided Bureau of Public Procurement for misleading the House, and for issuing Certificate of No Objection to for unqualified firms without verifiable particulars that qualified them to execute contracts in the country.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
