Backstory: Minister Fashola is no saint, the corruption scandals trailing his office are proof

Sometime ago, while most got excited over the appointment of former Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, the PDP tried to convince us that there was nothing special about the man, Fashola. They said he relied heavily on propaganda while he was governor and would fail as minister.

At the time, we thought: “bunch of haters, they’re clearly pained about their loss at the general elections”. The Fashola Lagosians had come to adore is not a man of equivocal character. He does what he says he will do and was soon to bring Change to our failed power sector, the most prominent of his portfolio.

In the past week, his ministry has been at the heart of what might turn out as a major corruption scandal.

Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West at the Senate, first brought the matter before the House at plenary session last week. He said there was a connivance between the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Ministry for Power, Works and Housing to inflate the cost of contracts awarded and executed. He cited irregularities found in the documents. “The ministry sent a letter to the BPP, asking that 10 companies who had undergone their (the ministry’s) internal due process and technical qualification be issued Certificate of No Objection for the award of the contracts. The BPP, after its diligence, wrote its first report, giving the ministry a nod. But somehow, a second letter came from the BPP indicating ‘Revised Due Process Review.’ This is now a review of the first one. What caught my attention is that while the first was in compliance with what the ministry recommended, in the second letter, they completely changed the list of the contractors. Not that the contractors were just changed, figures also varied.”

The Senate will be hearing details on the matter in a motion that will be moved by Senator Melaye in subsequent sittings. As we await results from his findings, we found that a report published on online investigative newspaper, Premium Times has found Mr Fashola’s ministry solely culpable of manipulating the contract award documents.

According to the report, the Bureau of Public Procurement has called on Mr Fashola to explain “why the costs of some of the projects were inflated and why some were awarded to unqualified firms”. The projects, worth N166 billion, are the rehabilitation and construction of 10 roads and bridges mostly in the North.

The projects are the rehabilitation of Numan-Jalingo Road awarded to Deux Projects Ltd for N11.7 billion; replacement of substandard bridges along Gusau-Sokoto Road awarded to Triacta Nig. Ltd (N1.01 billion); construction of Ojutu Bridge in Ilobu, Osun State awarded to Halicass Integrated Ltd (N522.2 million); construction of Ohan-Moro Bridge on Ilorin-Igbeti Road awarded to Bonus Nig. Ltd (N942.6 million); and rehabilitation of Abuja-Kaduna Road awarded to CGC Nig. Ltd (N26.9 billion).

The rehabilitation of Kaduna-Zaria Road in Katsina State awarded to Arab Contractors Nig. Ltd for N14.8 billon; rehabilitation of Zaria-Kano Road in Kaduna/Kano State awarded to Reynold Construction Nig. Ltd (N69.9 billion); and the construction of Burga-Dull-Mbatill-TadnumGpbiya-Badagari-Gwaranga-Sum, Bauchi State awarded to Rahama Civil Works Nig. Ltd (N10.9 billion).

The construction of Tudun Wuss-Wandi-Wandi-Baraza-Durr-Zumbul-Polchi-Dot-Kwanar Road, Bauchi State awarded to Dalum Construction Nig. at N12.2 billion and the construction of Pankshin-Tapshin-Gambar-Sara-Kai-Gindiri Road in Plateau State awarded to Metropolitan Construction Company Limited at N15.3 billion.

The BPP however opposed the award of the contracts for reasons more than one. The agency said the award of the contracts is in violation of the Public Procurement Act, the ministry did not carry out the required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), feasibility and financial studies have not been conducted, the ministry failed to recommend the lowest bidder for the lots, among others.

The Bureau suggested there was foulplay in the qualification and disqualification of some of the construction firms especially as the ministry could not provide justification for its choices. The ministry’s technical evaluation process has been questioned and it has been asked to revisit all the necessary processes. Through all these allegations raised, the ministry is yet to officially respond or defend its submission. However, Mr Fashola’s spokesperson responded in a statement saying that the evaluation committee should be blamed and not the minister.

Mr Fashola was also named as a player in the illegal $800million contract that is set to be awarded to a US based electric utility firm, CTC Global. The contract which involves the rehabilitation of high-voltage transmission across the country and it was reported that should the deal go on, it would breach Nigeria’s extant procurement provision. According to the report, other companies were not given the opportunity to bid for the contract, instead former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar persuaded Minister Fashola to accept the contract proposal and provide a contract letter to the company. He has yet to deny his involvement in this matter too.

In his speech at the House, Senator Melaye said “Nigerians are watching. And I am aware that Nigerians have now opened a ledger for the thieves in power, who are still in power. In a time like this, my expectation is that those stealing from government coffers should suspend stealing. We will keep exposing (them) and if they continue to be in power, one day, and very soon, Nigerians will start shouting until justice is done to public thieves.”

Although we cannot yet confirm that Mr Fashola belongs in this lot, recent events prove that he is not the saint many of us thought him to be and may have already reaffirmed the PDP’s claims.

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