Group, ex-Lagos rep bicker over ‘relocation of N141m SDG contract’

The Network for the Actualisation of Social Growth and Viable Development (NEFGAD), a public procurement advocacy group, has accused Mufutau Egberongbe, a former member of the house of representatives, of undue legislative interference.

In a statement on Thursday, Akingunola Omoniyi, the head of the group, said before leaving office, Egberongbe requested the relocation of a project from its approved site to a new place.

According to Omoniyi, a skill acquisition centre and one block of six classrooms which were meant to be built at Ajeromi primary school were transferred to Ladi-Lak/ Metropolitan School in the Orile Apapa LGA of Lagos.

“Honourable Mufutau Adewale Egberongbe requested for the project to be relocated from its original site of Ajeromi Primary School, Lagos state to Ladi-Lak Nursery & Primary School Apapa and Metropolitan Nursery/Primary School, Sari Iganmu, Orile Apapa LGA, Lagos state citing environmental degradation. NEFGAD argued that the act constitutes undue interference which is clearly against the fundamental principles of the Public Procurement Act 2007,” the statement reads.

“Apart from the fact that constituency project in itself is an illegal conscription, interfering in a reasonably concluded procurement proceeding to the extent of altering its description, hijacked and redirected to an unknown destination is questionable and suspicious.”

But in response to the allegation, Egberongbe told TheCable that he requested a transfer of the project to another location in a letter to the office of the senior special assistant to the president on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on behalf of the contractor.

“The matter is between the SDG office and the contractor. The project was first approved to be built at Ajeromi school but when the contractor inspected the place, he informed me that the place was not fit for the project and hence the request I made to the SDG to transfer the project to Ladi-Lak,” he told TheCable on phone.

“It is none of my concern as a lawmaker. This is between the SDG office and the contractor. The contractor raised a concern that I amplified and that was the matter.”

On November 7, the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) reported that the office of the senior special assistant to the president on sustainable development goals (OSSAP-SDGs) awarded the contract for the construction of one skill acquisition centre and one block of six classrooms at Ajeromi Primary School in Lagos at the cost of N147 million.

According to the report, the fund for the contract was paid into the “account of a restaurant,” while the project was not situated in its designated location.

‘SDG OFFICE COMPLIED WITH LAWS’

The group said all evaluated documents showed that the SDGs office fulfilled the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007 in the award of the contract, and blamed the project’s relocation on undue legislative interference.

“The SDGs office substantially complied with both the Public Procurement Act 2007 in the award of the contract and the Freedom of Information Act 2011 in the way and manner it promptly responded to its request for Certified True Copies (CTCs) of all procurement information leading to the award of the contract within legally stipulated 7 days period,” the group said.

“Part of the contract documents evaluated include Technical and Financial Evaluation Report (TFER), copies of newspaper advertisements for the Expression of Interest including pictorial evidence of the completed projects.”

The group called on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences (ICPC) to investigate the issue of legislative interference in procurement proceedings starting from this “SDG contract”.