The Committee on Public Procurement of the House of Representative has given the minister of finance Mrs Kemi Adeosun a 24-hour notice to appear before the committee over alleged abuse and breach of the Procurement Act of 2007.
The Finance Minister was summoned following a resolution taken at the commencement of a two-day investigative hearing into allegations of abuse, breach and violation of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 in the engagement of contractors for the pre-shipment inspection and monitoring of crude oil and gas export from Nigeria.
The committee on monday walked out officials of the Finance Ministry, led by the Legal Director, Mr Gabriel Christopher, and representatives of Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, on the ground that they were not competent enough to speak on the issues at hand.
The Committee which was , chaired by Wole Oke representing PDP, Osun is investigating allegations levied on Mrs. Adeosun of abuse, breach, and violations of Public Procurement Act 2007 in the engagements of contractors for pre-shipment, inspection, and monitoriing of crude oil and gas export from Nigeria.
Members of the committee, while expressing their concerns over the disregard for due process, told the new BPP Director-General, Mamman Ahmad, that any officer of the BPP convicted for breaching the procurement law shall be liable to five years imprisonment and dismissal from public service, on conviction, without option of fine.
In a letter dated March 8 2017, the Wole Oke committee had called on the minister to furnish the committee with relevant documents as well as appear for questioning on the subject matter.
While responding to inquiries from the lawmakers, Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, who admitted that the entire procurement process was flawed, however, noted that the process should have been cancelled but for time exigencies. He queried the rationale behind the petitions sent to the Presidency by the aggrieved parties, but noted that the bureau had addressed various issues in the memo sent from the Presidency.
