Drainage Contracts Scam: Kaduna Government Admits Irregularities, Denies Spending N3billion
he government of Kaduna State has denied media reports that it awarded contracts worth N3billion for the construction of drainages in major metropolitan centers in the state, but admitted irregularities in the award process.
The denial, a response to a story published by SaharaReporters alleging a contract bazaar, was made in a statement signed by Mr. Samuel Aruwan, Senior Special Assistant (Media) to Kaduna State governor, Mr. Nasir El-Rufai. According to the statement, the state government did not spend N3billion on the contracts and claimed that no contract was awarded to members of Mr. El-Rufai's family and senior officials of his administration, an assertion Saharareporters found to be false. Instead, the government claimed it arrested sharp practices observed by stopping the project, reviewing it and taking disciplinary actions against those responsible.
"Upon review of the state of the projects, the Kaduna State Government (KDSG) has not paid anything beyond the N119.2m Kaduna Public Works Agency (KAPWA) expended prior to the drainage project being suspended," the statement said. It added that through investigations initiated by the government, it was verified that a payments totaling N626million were further made.
The state government alleged that its efforts to reflate the local economy through massive public works executed in small lots have been used to scandalize it and prominent citizens of the state.
"Kaduna State is thorough about advertising its contracts. Its tenders are regularly published in national newspapers. In 2016, KDSG published 72 adverts for tenders and employment opportunities. Thus far, in 2017, we have advertised 19 tenders and vacancies. The default mode of the government is a rigorous insistence on open, competitive tendering. But not every contract meets the threshold for this. The Public Procurement Law of the state requires that only contracts above N5million be advertised," it said.
"Upon review of the state of the projects, the Kaduna State Government (KDSG) has not paid anything beyond the N119.2m Kaduna Public Works Agency (KAPWA) expended prior to the drainage project being suspended," the statement said. It added that through investigations initiated by the government, it was verified that a payments totaling N626million were further made.
The state government alleged that its efforts to reflate the local economy through massive public works executed in small lots have been used to scandalize it and prominent citizens of the state.
"Kaduna State is thorough about advertising its contracts. Its tenders are regularly published in national newspapers. In 2016, KDSG published 72 adverts for tenders and employment opportunities. Thus far, in 2017, we have advertised 19 tenders and vacancies. The default mode of the government is a rigorous insistence on open, competitive tendering. But not every contract meets the threshold for this. The Public Procurement Law of the state requires that only contracts above N5million be advertised," it said.
The government also claimed that no fronts were used to win contract bids, saying its investigations revealed that many of the names on the list have no connection to the drainage works.
"Many of the names are of non-existent people with surnames attached to them to justify the use of fronts by the same officials of KAPWA whose services have been dispensed with. Others that exist have denied knowledge of the contracts and the names of those they were supposed to have sponsored. The dismissed Assistant General Manager, who was the architect of the madness, was unable to produce evidence linking the so-called contracts to most of the names of existing and living persons," the statement further claimed.
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