The Senate has called for the resignation and prosecution of the Secretary General to the Government of Federation (SGF) Babachir David Lawal over his involvement in a consultancy contract awarded to his company Rholavision Engineering Limited for the removal of invasive plant species in Yobe State. The call came after Senate’s consideration of the interim report of its Adhoc Committee on Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in the North East on Wednesday 14th December 2016.
It would be recalled that the Senate had constituted an eight (8) man Adhoc Committee in October 2016 to ascertain the amount of funds released to the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) and the utilization of such funds following a motion on ‘‘Mounting humanitarian Crisis’’ by Sen. Baba Kaka Garbai (APC:Borno)
Speaking on the report, Sen. Shehu Sani (APC:Kaduna), Chairman of the adhoc Committee, stated that the committee had visited some internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the North East and conducted a three day public hearing after which it observed that:
- There is a serious humanitarian crisis in the North East evidenced by hunger, disease, squalor, deprivation and want amongst the IDPs;
- That the World Food Program, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Doctors without Borders and Dangote group were present in most IDP camps rendering humanitarian assistance;
- That the Federal Ministry of Health was absent in the camps visited. However although the presence of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and States Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) were noticed, they had very little synergy with other agencies;
- Despite claims by some Federal Government Agencies that huge sums of money was spent on IDPs in the North East, what the committee saw, did not justify and reflect such claims;
- There is an acute shortage of food in the IDP camps;
- All contracts from the PINE were awarded under the principle of emergency situation as stipulated in Section 43 (1) & (2) of the Public Procurement Act 2007;
- Most of the contracts awarded have no direct impact on the lives of the people;
- That the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) took undue advantage of the provisions of the emergency contract situation to over inflate contracts and award contracts to companies belonging to top government officials. For example Rholavision Engineering Limited incorporated by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to carry out information and communication technology services anchored by Engr. Babachir Lawal, the current Secretary General to the Government to the Federation was awarded a consultancy contract for the removal of invasive plant species (or sea weed) in Yobe State. However, it was noted that although Engr. Babachir resigned from the directorship of the company in September 2016 it was the Committee’s finding that he is still the signatory to accounts of the company;
- That 95% to 100% payments of all contracts awarded by PINE have been paid although some contracts are yet to be fully executed. For example, the payment of One Hundred and Eight Million Naira (180,000,000) for the supply of 1100 units of temporary tarpaulin carbines despite the fact that 125 units valued at Thirty Seven Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (37,700,000) is yet to be supplied.
The Senate thereafter adopted the following recommendations:
- That the Federal Government and States in the North East should as a matter of urgency ensure food items are adequately and promptly provided to displaced persons in order to address the prevailing malnutrition observed amongst them;
- That serious effort should be made by both Federal and State governments of the North East to provide conducive learning atmosphere for children of the IDPs;
- That the Federal Ministry of Health should be compelled to deploy personnel to all IDP camps to support efforts of the International Humanitarian Crisis Managers and the Nigerian Airforce medical team in providing the necessary medical assistance so as to avert possible outbreak of communicable diseases like cholera, measles and diarrhoea;
- Federal and State governments should intensify efforts towards reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure, rehabilitation and empowerment of the IDPs so that they can go back to their homes;
- That the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI) should ensure that there is synergy and proper coordination among all humanitarian crisis agencies if the IDPs are to gain maximally from the entire exercise;
- The Presidential Initiative on North East should forward a detailed report of all contracts awarded by it to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as requested by Section 43 (iv) of the Public Procurement Act 2007;
- That public officers culpable of contravening any Public Procurement Act, 2007 and the Federal Government Financial Rules and Regulations pertaining to the award of contracts should immediately resign and be prosecuted by relevant authorities.
