NPA under probe over N13bn Warri, Escravos Channels Dredging

Abiola Seun |

The House of Representative has expressed readiness to probe the planned dredging of the channel leading to Warri Port and Escravos to admit larger ships.
The lawmakers,who are not impressed with the timing and the process of award of the contract for the project, decided to probe its viability.
Recall that recently, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) with the approval of the Federal Ministry of Transportation awarded a N13 billion contract for the dredging of Warri Port and Escravos channels. The award of the contract came after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had earlier approved N10 billion for the dredging of the channels but without budgetary appropriation.
NPA later proceeded to award the contract at the sum of N13 billion, drawing the ire of the House of Representatives which sees political motives in the haste with which the contract was awarded.

Convinced that there are infractions in the process, Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP), moved a motion at a plenary for the NPA to be investigated over the process of the contract award.
Ossai condemned the NPA for taking advantage of the FEC approval to award the contract without any prior budgetary provision or appropriation. He alleged that the contract was awarded to a company whose reputation and professional competence was smeared internationally.
He said that the company which won the contract had suffered several criminal indictments and convictions in many countries.
Coming less than nine months to the 2019 general elections at a time that governance has practically ceased with attention shifted to political campaigns, the lawmakers are concerned that the money may be diverted to fund the quest for power in the coming elections.

They recalled the Calabar Port experience years back where huge contract fees were paid and shoddy jobs done. The money realized went into political campaigns while the shallow channel problem expected to be addressed remains unresolved till date.
They queried the process of award of the contract and expressed doubt that there was any open and transparent bidding before the contract was awarded. Among the questions posed by lawmakers are, How many companies competed and who was the lowest bidder? Was the bidding process done in line with the stipulations of the Procurement Act?
The Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill, 2016. New Provisions (7) under the Mandatory Procurement of Made-in-Nigeria Goods section states that:
(1) A procuring entity shall grant a margin of preference in the evaluation of tenders when comparing tenders from domestic bidders with those from foreign bidders or when comparing tenders from domestic suppliers offering goods manufactured locally with those offering goods manufactured abroad.
(2) Where a procuring entity has allowed domestic preferences, the bidding documents shall clearly indicate any preference to be granted to domestic suppliers and contractors and the information required to establish the eligibility of a bid for such preference.
Maritime industry operators are equally apprehensive of the outcome of the contract. Those who spoke with our correspondent are concerned that government’s poor attention to growing maritime may have driven it to the dredging project as a conduit to divert money to fund the jostling for power in 2019.
“I am very much in agreement with the House of Representatives on this. We have always drawn government’s attention to the danger posed to shipping by the high rate of siltation of the channels and the need to constantly dredge them.

“It will be very dangerous if politicians see the project as a platform to raise money to fund their campaigns. I think the Hose should speedily conduct the investigation and order a cancellation of the contract if the nature of the award and the status of the contractor is questionable. It is even better to stop the project outright until there is a genuine commitment to execute it,” the chief executive of a shipping agency said,
Efforts to get the reactions from the Federal Ministry of Transportation were unsuccessful as calls to Yetunde Sonaike, the ministry’s image maker, were not picked.