By Charles Igbo

Here is the news. In Abuja, Nigeria, a staff of the  Bureau for Public  Procurement, BPP, secured a job, four clear years before he was born.

The BPP is a federal concern.

The man was born on January, 8, 1996, but was employed on December 15, 1992. On January the 1st, 2019, he was promoted to the position of a Deputy Director.

How such a bizarre incident took place is a knotty issue members of the House of Representatives are poised to unravel.

Termed stranger than fiction, it was discovered on Thursday by the House during the ongoing budget defence.

Members had expressed worries  over  what they saw as “inefficiencies in the operations of the BPP.” It was at the Budget defence  that they resolved to investigate the embarrassing case.

He is now a Deputy Director, (Accounts), on Grade Level 16.

The Lawmakers were not impressed  by the  performance of the 2020  Budget  and defence of the 2021, demanded “for the utilisation of various subheads on N22.666 million spent on welfare packages, N17.912 million on local training, N57.7 million spent on local travel and international travels during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the 2020 Budget”, among others.

The Lawmakers, also, frowned at the submission of the 2015/2016 audited report of the Bureau in 2020, also mocked the management, which superintended  “the audit report of 850 agencies (out of which 32 agencies have so far been concluded) for failing to comply with extant financial regulations on the submission of audit report annually.”

Hon. Kingsley Uju, Deputy Chairman of the Committee, was disgusted over the agency’s incompetence. Uju: “I don’t think there is any other job provided in the schedule of your assignment.

“It baffles this Committee that since the appointment of the DG, it is taking about four years to submit report from 32 agencies out of over 850 agencies for us to know whether they are complying with the law.

“We are shocked as a Committee on Public Procurement that we don’t even have materials to work.

“We are doing Budget defence, but this Committee is vested with the responsibility to ascertain the usage of previous funds.

“I agree with you that audit is going on, but if your performance is less than five per cent, I don’t think we are ready to do the job.

“I, therefore, move a motion that the committee should mandate the Bureau to submit all procurement audit report of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the end of this year.”

Responding to issues raised by the lawmakers, the BPP Director General, Mamman Ahmadu, revealed that  of the N1.485 billion allocated to the Bureau, N250.479 million was for capital expenditure, N750.060 million for overhead expenditure, and N484.236 million for personnel expenditure.

He noted that the  sum of N1.485 billion allocated to the Bureau was reviewed downward to N1.425 billion. “In order to consolidate on the achievements of the due process reform and to address some of the core mandates that will help realise effective contracts administration, the total sum of N250,478,701 was allocated to the Bureau in the 2020 Budget, but this was, however, reviewed downward to N190,363,813 in the 2020 amended budget.

Before the “review of the 2020 revised appropriation, the sum of N190,363,813 was released to the Bureau, out of which total sum of N149,153,212.64 has so far been expended, leaving a balance of N141,210,600.36 in the revised capital vote.

On the fund released for overhead expenditure, out of a total sum of N750,059,898 approved, the sum of N437,534,940.50 has so far been released, while N196,714,057.95 (45 per cent of the released fund) has been utilised, leaving a balance of N240,820,882.55 as at October, 2020, which is already committed to settle pending liabilities”.

The Committee, therefore,  ordered the BPP Boss “to furnish the details of the pending liabilities.

For the 2021 proposed budget, out of total sum of N1,436 billion proposed for 2021 fiscal year, the sum of N205,929,069 is for capital expenditure, N750.060 for overhead expenditure, while N479.899 million is for personnel expenditure.”

But, the BPP Director General submitted: “We have published some procurement audit and submitted same to the committee.”

But  the already upset Chairman of the Committee, expressed sadness over the DG’s stand  and said: “Let me stop you there.

“You said you have submitted procurement audit for this year to the committee.

“I am not aware of that.

“Audit is supposed to be on continuous basis.

What it mean is that a lot of reports are still pending.”

Commenting,  Hon. Ossai said: “It means you have been in office for four years now and yet your office has not done its job.

“I see this as an infraction to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“If that is so, the House should be able to summon the political courage and will and be able to do the needful and an affront on the Constitution and the Appropriation Act.

“Every year, we appropriate money for this purpose and we budget money for a particular purpose and it is misapplied, that is another infraction.

“I think we should go beyond the issues of questions and answers on the 2020/2021 appropriation and make far reaching recommendations.”

To this end, the Committee resolved to set up a Technical Committee that will investigate various queries raised by the lawmakers, with the view to ensure value for money and efficiency.”

For now, Nigerians are applauding members of the Committee, and are anxious to know how the Deputy Director, Accounts, was able to get employed before he was born.