Three leading pro-democracy groups namely the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Human Rights Writers’ Association (HURIWA) have jointly kicked against the move to expend a whopping N42.4billion to renovate the National Assembly in Abuja.
Alleging that the project was inflated from N37 billion to N42.4 billion within six months, the groups described the proposed expenditure as “a misplaced priority.”
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, called for outright cancellation of the renovation contract.
He said: “Spending N42billion on renovation of a complex, which original cost wasn’t more than half of the budgeted humongous sum, is a colossal waste and frittering of scarce resources. It’s unwise, wasteful, unreasonable, irresponsible and callous.
“The National Assembly Complex is not more than 30 years old, since it was first constructed, and upon construction by Julius Berger, there was information the builders had built in a maintenance strategy, so that the complex could be maintained by the builders, whenever necessary.
“I suggest strongly that the company that built it should have right of first refusal to renovation. The bidding process is also opaque and lacks transparency. It is heavily compromised and should be cancelled. Sadly, it looks like the Bureau of Public Procurement is also compromised.”
CDD’s Director, Idayat Hassan frowned at the authorities for the award of such contract that is of little or no benefits to the citizenry.
She said: “ Nigeria is heavily borrowing. There is insecurity. There are a lot of challenges that the country is presently grappling with. Bringing forth a very large budget to renovate in what could be adjudged non-transparent is a no no for the country.
“I advise the National Assembly members to present themselves really, as above board and take the interest of the masses at heart. This huge amount could be used either in the security sector, or to provide basic amenities for Nigerians.
“N42b is quite huge and it didn’t take into consideration the uproar that accompanied the earlier allocated N37b for the same contract, before it was slashed. It’s more or less that in this budget cycle, the National Assembly has returned with its initial budget.
CISLAC’s Executive Director, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, spoke on the alleged breach in the Public Procurement Act (PPA). He said: “This is not in the best interest of Nigerians to embark on such a huge spending, wastage of tax payers’ monies. To compound the issues, the contract amount is even at inflated rates.
“If the National Assembly can legislate a law like the PPA, why should it tolerate the breach of such law? If the lawmakers can tolerate this level of impunity, how can they take the anti-graft campaign to the doorstep of the executive arm?
“The Federal Executive Council (FEC) is part of the problem. Why should they award contract in breach of the Public Procurement Act? One would have expected FEC to know the implications of giving such approval. We must be mindful of spending, that are of no economic value to Nigerians and would drain the lean purse of the nation.”
The National Assembly renovation project was proposed last year, it was pegged at N27b. Even then, there was a huge outcry over the cost, with civil society advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) petitioning three United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs, inviting them to step in and stop such humungous expenditure on the project.
The latest position of the rights’ groups is coming against the backdrop of allegation that the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) might have been put under pressure to select Messrs. Visible Construction Limited, over and above companies, such as ITB Nigeria Limited, which originally built the first phase of the National Assembly complex, and had quoted N26.9billion for its renovation.
There are fears that the firm, which enjoys the endorsement of a principal officer of the National Assembly, may not deliver value for money to be spent on the project.
This is aside the fact that going ahead to execute the contract at N24.4billion will be tantamount to “a rip off”.