The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ministries

  • FEC tasks MDAs on 2017 digital broadcasting deadline

    FEC tasks MDAs on 2017 digital broadcasting deadline

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday directed relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to collaborate effectively to ensure Nigeria meets the June 2017 global deadline for migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.

    They are expected ‎to follow up on the success and ensure that Nigeria is not left out of worldwide digital broadcasting by June next year.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said that the issue was the only discussion during the meeting.

    According to him, the migration in line with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will enable Nigerians continue to receive television signals after the deadline.

    He said that the pilot scheme for the migration, which was ‎ carried out in Jos, Plateau State in April using special set-up boxes to provide free digital signals of 15 broadcast stations, has been successful.

    He also explained that the funds for the project about N34 billion are available and contracts have been awarded for the supply of the digital set-up boxes at affordable prices to Nigerians.

    The Minister explained that the new digital migration policy‎ entails that signal distributors will thenceforth be solely responsible for sending out broadcast signals to the public consumers while broadcast content will be the responsibility of station owners.

    He said: “The main highlights of today’s council meeting are the swearing in of the four special advisers and permanent secretary for foreign affairs after which only one single council memo was considered and that council memo was a note in respect of an update from my ministry in the process of migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting, as you are aware the ITU gave a deadline to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting June 2017.

    “Already the pilot scheme in Jos which was successfully deployed at the end of April is working very well and today those who are in possession of our set up boxes can view 15 channels with clarity in Jos.

    “And the highlights of today’s council meeting is that council reaffirmed its support for us to meet the deadline of 2017 June and directed that the relevant ministries work together to achieve these deadline.

    Asked why FEC deliberated on only the issue while there are hunger and hardship in the land, he said: “Yes Nigeria might be going through a very difficult time it doesn’t mean that we are going to be cut off from the rest of the world. 20 years ago Ethiopia had a famine that ravaged the whole country they have risen from the ashes of that famine to become one of the strongest economies of the world.

    “The fact that we are facing temporary problems does not mean that we are not going to be at pace with technology development all over the world. This is a global issue; it simply means that if we do not move from analogue to digital broadcasting we may not be able to even receive signals on your television.” He said

    Apart from the government assisting to subsidize in getting the boxes, he said that the digital migration is going to create jobs.

    He said: “Look at the opportunities it offers our young men who are very talented to provide content to television stations. So it’s going to impact very largely on the broadcast industry, even piracy which has been a menace to us today, with digitalisation it means that musicians and film makers can release their films or records direct on digital broadcast such as video on demand and we are now going to cut off the entire pirate network which has been a bane to our creative industry.

    “If we look at the advantages of digitalisation in terms of changing the entire economy of providing more jobs for the people, even the 13 manufacturers of set up box who have been licensed, two of them already are producing are also going to employ but I think that the fact that we have a temporary setback does not mean we are going to be cut off from the entire world,” He stated.

  • ‘Kogi lost N213 billion to ghost workers’

    ‘Kogi lost N213 billion to ghost workers’

    Kogi State Auditor-General, Mr Okala Yusuf, has said that the state government lost N213 billion to 18, 211 ghost workers in the last 13 years,

    He made the disclosure on Monday in Lokoja the state capital while presenting the report of the just concluded screening and verification exercise of the state workers carried out by the government.

    He said that the ghost workers were discovered in Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs) and in the 21 local government councils in the state.

    He said that 7, 606 were discovered in the councils, 5,872 at the state level, while pensioners accounted for 1,040 of the ghost workers.

    The AG said the exercise had reduced the joint workforce of the state and local governments from 88, 973 to 63, 870.

    He added that the monthly wage bill had also been reduced from N5.8 billion to N4.6 billion.

    Yusuf said that the 929 workers who were illegally employed in the state in 2015 and 2016 were also among those categorised as ghost workers.

    He said that some workers categorised as being in the Diaspora, who had been collecting their salaries for years while residing in Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna and other cities across the country were also affected.

    He said that the committee relied on employees’ biodata verification form and the Nigeria inter-bank payment settlement system to identify the ghost workers.

    He accused some “vested interest” of muddling the report of the screening committee by omitting the names of 14, 147 genuine workers and replacing them with the names of unknown staff.

    Yusuf, who served as chairman of the back up committee that reviewed the report of the screening committee, suggested the adoption of the integrated and automation payroll system to curb leakages.

    The AG suggested the establishment of pre-disbursement audit unit before payment of salaries.

    He said that all those who abetted or aided fraud in the workforce of the state and local governments should be identified and made to face the consequences of their actions.

    Speaking after the presentation of the report, Governor Yahaya Bello said that the discovery had justified the good intention of the government to embark on the screening and verification.

    He inaugurated a 15-member committee to review the report, saying that anybody with genuine complaint should channel it through the committee.

    He promised to correct lopsidedness in the state civil service and block leakages.

    He added: “Less than two per cent of the population should not be allowed to continue to corner the resources meant for 3.4 million people.

    “This is unsustainable; the choice we have is to either reform the service or continue with the distortions in the socio-economic life of our people“.

    He accused previous administrations in the state of abandoning governance, saying that his administration was determined to carry out comprehensive reforms of the civil service.

    “This is a way of saying that we are not ready to continue with the past and put permanent stop to the syndrome of ghost workers,” he said.

    While reiterating the determination of his administration to adhere strictly to the principles of transparency and accountability, Bello said that government would endeavour to enhance the capacity of the successful workers.

     

  • No plan to take over ministries, agencies —Kwara Harmony Holdings chair /Emir Halidu Abubakar

    Emir of Ilesha-Baruba and the Chairman of the Kwara State government integrated company, known as Harmony Holdings, Prof. Halidu Abubakar, in this interview with selected reporters, including ADEKUNLE JIMOH, dismissed rumours making the round that the company is planning to take over the state’s ministries, agencies and parastatals, among other issues.

    What is the ownership structure of Harmony Holdings?

    Harmony Holdings is solely owned by the Kwara State Government. As you know, anybody, either a corporate organisation or individuals, can come together and own a company. Harmony Holdings is an integrated company and 100 percent of its shares are owned by the Kwara State government, which again is a normal thing. If you are from Kwara, it means that you are a stakeholder because Harmony Holdings is owned by your government.

    Since Harmony Holdings started its operation, what are its goals and objectives?

    Let us start from a background. All over the world, in order to promote development, we have what is called DFI – development finance institution. Harmony Holdings plays a dual role. It is what the name applies, holding company for government’s business interests. The whole idea of having Harmony Holdings is because government has diversified business interests. When we started development process in this country, government has diverse business interests; government was having interest in virtually everything. Over the years, it was realised that government had no business in this kind of business. Therefore, the best thing to do for some government was, they sold outright but for some governments, they leveraged on what they had by bringing together all the investments under a holding company. That is how Harmony Holdings came into being. It serves importantly as a DFI; it helps to generate funds for development. It also serves as a holding company to bring together government investments such as Kwara Investment and Property Limited. It is a very important company.

    Initially, it was just an investment company. It was a fantastic idea. People came from all over the country to monitor what was happening there, but over the years, it died down. It operated Kwara Midlands, Kwara Foods, Riverside Food etc. So, when Harmony Holdings came up, it tried to revive the initial objective of using a platform to develop the state. So, Harmony holdings’ scope is very wide. We have already existing investments like Kwara Hotel, Kwara Investment etc. But again as a virile investment company, we are looking into Green Field Investment and areas that have not been mapped out. We have that mandate from government to do what will think we bring in money and development for government and Kwara State generally. So, the scope is very diversified and the objective of course. The final analysis is to bring development to Kwara State. And I think over these three years that we have been on ground; we have done the best we can, under this circumstance.

    With my experience from other investment companies, because under my former company, NNDC, I had the opportunity to virtually interact with investment companies from virtually all over the northern states and even outside the northern states. And if you look at the model with which Harmony Holdings is working, it is a very fantastic one. Because one of the problems about government investment generally is that there is usually too much interference by government. Because if you look at it in theory, there is nothing that makes private sector more efficient than government sector. And over the 30 years, I have always been asking myself, is there anything intrinsically that makes private sector more efficient than government sector? Basically none. It is just the operational guidelines and the objectives.

    As an investors, you try to sell your products where the average cost meets the marginal cost. But for government, it sells below that cost. In other words, you are bringing in subsidy. So, that issue of subsidy tends to limit the scope of government. But now with Harmony Holdings, all those incumberances are removed and we work like any corporate organisation anywhere in the world in terms of everything and even appearance of the staff. So, I think we have done so well. Even in terms of one crucial issue, that is employment generation, I think Harmony Holdings has done a fantastic job. You see for a private investor, for instance, he set up and also said one of his objectives is to create employment. No private investor does that; creating employment by private investors is just incidental, but for us, creating employment is not incidental, it is part and parcel of our objectives.

    What exactly can you point at as the achievements of this organisation that actually has direct impact on the state government?

    Thank you, you see for a business person in a company, the bottom line is profit. If we use that yardstick, I think that best answers your question. So, in that regard, the state government I think got about N75 million or N80 million as a dividend last year. And that is fantastic. Secondly of course, if you look at a company like Kwara Investment, you will note that a lot have changed in terms of the perception of staff and the output of workers has improved. Also, another obvious one is Kwara Express, now renamed Harmony Express. Before now of course, for those of you who travel, you see Kwara Express vehicles park all over the roads from here to Kaduna, for instance, broken down.

    But, about two months ago we launched about 42 or 47 brand new vehicles with state-of-the-art technology to ensure that customers are well served and reduce all areas of leakages. So, that is one of our major achievements. But also in terms of developing business ideas, I think Harmony Holdings has done a lot. So, if you look at it within the yardstick of profitability, it has declared profit and it is going to declare profit from time to time. But a finance development institution like this, it is not just about declaring profit, you; know there are two types of profit. There are nominal profit, that is, naira and kobo profit and there is real profit, that is, how many people have benefitted from that investment. For Harmony Holdings, both interm of nominal and real profits, Harmony Holdings has done well.

    There is this rumour that the state government is planning to put all state-owned institutions under Harmony Holdings, how true is the rumour?

    Well, first of all, rumour will continue to be rumour and let me say that we Harmony Holdings cannot speak for the state government, so that people will not say that Harmony Holdings wants to capture ministries, departments, and agencies. Anyway, there is nothing like that. And on that I am risking representing government because I am not privy to whatever decision has been taken but I know that the leadership of the state cannot do something like that. What is even the basis and rationale for that? Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed will not do anything like that; because in anything you want to do, you look at the rationale, what are your objectives? I do not see any objective there. We are a company that specialises more in business, not in running government. Yes, we run government-investments but we run investments as investors, not as government. So definitely, do not believe that rumour.

    I don’t believe it because it does not make sense anyway. So, there is no future plan to take over MDAs. Harmony Holdings is not incorporated to do that kind of thing. No government will transfer its own responsibilities to any other person. If government does that, then we have taken over government. I don’t think legitimately or reasonably, any government will want to do that at all. When you hear any rumour, look at the common sense in the rumour. Transferring ministries means that I will not be chairman, I will become governor. These are just very stupid kinds of rumour.

    What is the relationship between Harmony Holdings and Kwara Revenue Service?

    There is no relationship between the two. No relationship because, first of all, I understand I do not work for government and I don’t work for the revenue service. I understand of course that the revenue service is being remodelled. I do not know the details, but the remodelling is just to make it more efficient. It has nothing to do with us as Harmony Holdings. There is no relationship; of course, if we meet once in a while we exchange ideas. We are here to advise government, whether or not there is revenue service, on how to maximise the IGR of government. So, in that part capacity, well you can say maybe we relate, but I am not aware of any formal sense of relationship. There is no relationship. Again these are two different organisations, the other one is to collect IGR for government and this is to promote development and investments of government. So, there is really no direct relationship.

     What are the future plans of the Harmony Holdings?

    The future plans are fantastic, because each time we meet as the board, we have to tell the management to hold on and apply some brakes because they have a lot of ideas that if we leave them and give them five years, you will see a lot of development. The future of course is to consolidate Harmony Holdings. We have, for instance, taken transport and we are thinking of courier service. We are even thinking of going into water transportation. I remember some two years back, we were toying with the idea of railways; in fact there was already a relationship with the railways from Ilorin to Jebba and some other places. I think for now it has cooled down. So, we want directly to emphasise development that will bring in profit for government and also to provide leadership in investment for everybody in Kwara.

    So, the future is very wide. And I think it can be actualised if they get support and cooperation from people like you, because if we keep on listening to rumours, in fact, we will just get frustrated, that we just fold our arms and doing nothing. But I think that ofcourse is not going to be any option for us. Doing nothing is not going to be an option for us. So, we want to plead with you, anytime you hear any rumour, just contact us.

    We will like you to shed more light on the ownership of Harmony Holdings

    Quite clearly, Harmony Holdings is owned by Kwara State government. Kwara State government means everybody in Kwara. This company is not owned by any individual or group of individuals. It is company wholly owned, the shares are 100 percent owned by Kwara State government. Since I came on board, I have never seen anything to the contrary. Of course, if you know investment, if you know how companies are incorporated and so on, you cannot hide anything. People who are saying it is owned by some other bodies, they are free to go to the Corporate Affairs Commission to confirm.

    In fact, the way they operate now, you can sit down and get a lawyer to search. Search for Harmony Holdings and it will show you who owns the place and so on. And that is the most important thing. Kwara State government is the legal owner of Harmony Holdings. There is no any individual or group of people who own Harmony Holdings except Kwara State government. And I think we should delete that from our minds. We cannot sit down here and begin to tell people lies. I cannot, for instance, and be serving any individual at this age when I am already moving towards the bus stop. Definitely, I want the public to believe us that it is owned by Kwara State government.

  • No plan to take over ministries, agencies —Kwara Harmony Holdings chair /Emir Halidu Abubakar

    No plan to take over ministries, agencies —Kwara Harmony Holdings chair /Emir Halidu Abubakar

    Emir of Ilesha-Baruba and the Chairman of the Kwara State government integrated company, known as Harmony Holdings, Prof. Halidu Abubakar, in this interview with selected reporters, including ADEKUNLE JIMOH, dismissed rumours making the round that the company is planning to take over the state’s ministries, agencies and parastatals, among other issues.

    What is the ownership structure of Harmony Holdings?

    Harmony Holdings is solely owned by the Kwara State Government. As you know, anybody, either a corporate organisation or individuals, can come together and own a company. Harmony Holdings is an integrated company and 100 percent of its shares are owned by the Kwara State government, which again is a normal thing. If you are from Kwara, it means that you are a stakeholder because Harmony Holdings is owned by your government.

    Since Harmony Holdings started its operation, what are its goals and objectives?

    Let us start from a background. All over the world, in order to promote development, we have what is called DFI – development finance institution. Harmony Holdings plays a dual role. It is what the name applies, holding company for government’s business interests. The whole idea of having Harmony Holdings is because government has diversified business interests. When we started development process in this country, government has diverse business interests; government was having interest in virtually everything. Over the years, it was realised that government had no business in this kind of business. Therefore, the best thing to do for some government was, they sold outright but for some governments, they leveraged on what they had by bringing together all the investments under a holding company. That is how Harmony Holdings came into being. It serves importantly as a DFI; it helps to generate funds for development. It also serves as a holding company to bring together government investments such as Kwara Investment and Property Limited. It is a very important company.

    Initially, it was just an investment company. It was a fantastic idea. People came from all over the country to monitor what was happening there, but over the years, it died down. It operated Kwara Midlands, Kwara Foods, Riverside Food etc. So, when Harmony Holdings came up, it tried to revive the initial objective of using a platform to develop the state. So, Harmony holdings’ scope is very wide. We have already existing investments like Kwara Hotel, Kwara Investment etc. But again as a virile investment company, we are looking into Green Field Investment and areas that have not been mapped out. We have that mandate from government to do what will think we bring in money and development for government and Kwara State generally. So, the scope is very diversified and the objective of course. The final analysis is to bring development to Kwara State. And I think over these three years that we have been on ground; we have done the best we can, under this circumstance.

    With my experience from other investment companies, because under my former company, NNDC, I had the opportunity to virtually interact with investment companies from virtually all over the northern states and even outside the northern states. And if you look at the model with which Harmony Holdings is working, it is a very fantastic one. Because one of the problems about government investment generally is that there is usually too much interference by government. Because if you look at it in theory, there is nothing that makes private sector more efficient than government sector. And over the 30 years, I have always been asking myself, is there anything intrinsically that makes private sector more efficient than government sector? Basically none. It is just the operational guidelines and the objectives.

    As an investors, you try to sell your products where the average cost meets the marginal cost. But for government, it sells below that cost. In other words, you are bringing in subsidy. So, that issue of subsidy tends to limit the scope of government. But now with Harmony Holdings, all those incumberances are removed and we work like any corporate organisation anywhere in the world in terms of everything and even appearance of the staff. So, I think we have done so well. Even in terms of one crucial issue, that is employment generation, I think Harmony Holdings has done a fantastic job. You see for a private investor, for instance, he set up and also said one of his objectives is to create employment. No private investor does that; creating employment by private investors is just incidental, but for us, creating employment is not incidental, it is part and parcel of our objectives.

    What exactly can you point at as the achievements of this organisation that actually has direct impact on the state government?

    Thank you, you see for a business person in a company, the bottom line is profit. If we use that yardstick, I think that best answers your question. So, in that regard, the state government I think got about N75 million or N80 million as a dividend last year. And that is fantastic. Secondly of course, if you look at a company like Kwara Investment, you will note that a lot have changed in terms of the perception of staff and the output of workers has improved. Also, another obvious one is Kwara Express, now renamed Harmony Express. Before now of course, for those of you who travel, you see Kwara Express vehicles park all over the roads from here to Kaduna, for instance, broken down.

    But, about two months ago we launched about 42 or 47 brand new vehicles with state-of-the-art technology to ensure that customers are well served and reduce all areas of leakages. So, that is one of our major achievements. But also in terms of developing business ideas, I think Harmony Holdings has done a lot. So, if you look at it within the yardstick of profitability, it has declared profit and it is going to declare profit from time to time. But a finance development institution like this, it is not just about declaring profit, you; know there are two types of profit. There are nominal profit, that is, naira and kobo profit and there is real profit, that is, how many people have benefitted from that investment. For Harmony Holdings, both interm of nominal and real profits, Harmony Holdings has done well.

    There is this rumour that the state government is planning to put all state-owned institutions under Harmony Holdings, how true is the rumour?

    Well, first of all, rumour will continue to be rumour and let me say that we Harmony Holdings cannot speak for the state government, so that people will not say that Harmony Holdings wants to capture ministries, departments, and agencies. Anyway, there is nothing like that. And on that I am risking representing government because I am not privy to whatever decision has been taken but I know that the leadership of the state cannot do something like that. What is even the basis and rationale for that? Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed will not do anything like that; because in anything you want to do, you look at the rationale, what are your objectives? I do not see any objective there. We are a company that specialises more in business, not in running government. Yes, we run government-investments but we run investments as investors, not as government. So definitely, do not believe that rumour.

    I don’t believe it because it does not make sense anyway. So, there is no future plan to take over MDAs. Harmony Holdings is not incorporated to do that kind of thing. No government will transfer its own responsibilities to any other person. If government does that, then we have taken over government. I don’t think legitimately or reasonably, any government will want to do that at all. When you hear any rumour, look at the common sense in the rumour. Transferring ministries means that I will not be chairman, I will become governor. These are just very stupid kinds of rumour.

     What is the relationship between Harmony Holdings and Kwara Revenue Service?

    There is no relationship between the two. No relationship because, first of all, I understand I do not work for government and I don’t work for the revenue service. I understand of course that the revenue service is being remodelled. I do not know the details, but the remodelling is just to make it more efficient. It has nothing to do with us as Harmony Holdings. There is no relationship; of course, if we meet once in a while we exchange ideas. We are here to advise government, whether or not there is revenue service, on how to maximise the IGR of government. So, in that part capacity, well you can say maybe we relate, but I am not aware of any formal sense of relationship. There is no relationship. Again these are two different organisations, the other one is to collect IGR for government and this is to promote development and investments of government. So, there is really no direct relationship.

     What are the future plans of the Harmony Holdings?

    The future plans are fantastic, because each time we meet as the board, we have to tell the management to hold on and apply some brakes because they have a lot of ideas that if we leave them and give them five years, you will see a lot of development. The future of course is to consolidate Harmony Holdings. We have, for instance, taken transport and we are thinking of courier service. We are even thinking of going into water transportation. I remember some two years back, we were toying with the idea of railways; in fact there was already a relationship with the railways from Ilorin to Jebba and some other places. I think for now it has cooled down. So, we want directly to emphasise development that will bring in profit for government and also to provide leadership in investment for everybody in Kwara.

    So, the future is very wide. And I think it can be actualised if they get support and cooperation from people like you, because if we keep on listening to rumours, in fact, we will just get frustrated, that we just fold our arms and doing nothing. But I think that ofcourse is not going to be any option for us. Doing nothing is not going to be an option for us. So, we want to plead with you, anytime you hear any rumour, just contact us.

    We will like you to shed more light on the ownership of Harmony Holdings

    Quite clearly, Harmony Holdings is owned by Kwara State government. Kwara State government means everybody in Kwara. This company is not owned by any individual or group of individuals. It is company wholly owned, the shares are 100 percent owned by Kwara State government. Since I came on board, I have never seen anything to the contrary. Of course, if you know investment, if you know how companies are incorporated and so on, you cannot hide anything. People who are saying it is owned by some other bodies, they are free to go to the Corporate Affairs Commission to confirm.

    In fact, the way they operate now, you can sit down and get a lawyer to search. Search for Harmony Holdings and it will show you who owns the place and so on. And that is the most important thing. Kwara State government is the legal owner of Harmony Holdings. There is no any individual or group of people who own Harmony Holdings except Kwara State government. And I think we should delete that from our minds. We cannot sit down here and begin to tell people lies. I cannot, for instance, and be serving any individual at this age when I am already moving towards the bus stop. Definitely, I want the public to believe us that it is owned by Kwara State government.

     

     

  • Taxation of contract and direct labour procurement of Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government in Nigeria. (1)

    The Nigerian Tax Laws have provisions for the
    Taxation of contract Expenditure including
    those of Government, Ministry, Department and Agencies. The withholding tax (WHT) provision was introduced into the tax system in 1997 with limited coverage to rent, dividends and directors fees. Tax deduction at source has since been expanded to include:
    – All aspects of building, construction and related services.
    – All types of contract and agency arrangement, other than outright sale and purchase of goods and property in the ordinary course of business.
    – Consultancy, technical and professional services.
    – Management services.
    – Commissions
    – Interest and Royalty.
    The introduction of WHT regime came about in order to address the problem of tax evasion although, there is the overriding objective of full disclosure, transparency, predictability and fairness.
    Despite the huge Tax Revenue from award of contract and related source deductions, there is a growing interest in the usage of direct labour system in project procurement in Nigeria especially in the public sector. Direct Labour system is one of the several options of procurement used for project delivery process. This type of system is regarded as in-house because procuring entity, as different from contractor’s staff carry out the project delivery process and activities. One of the reasons for the preference for direct labour procurement is the Tax effect. Government Ministries, Department and Agency consume the services of contractors and hence are to be charged VAT by contractors who execute contract for them.
    This paper is intended to highlight how Government Expenditures are taxed in Nigeria and the extent to which direct labour procurement can be a Tax evasion scheme. This paper will not in any way address Tax issues relating to Corporate and Individual Expenditures.

    THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT 2007 AND AWARD OF CONTRACT

    By the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, the following should be noted about award of contract and Public Procurement:-
    i. Procuring Entities should outsource those services that are either not part of their core business activity or for which there is a fluctuating requirement in terms of specialist skills or Equipment, or where the open market provides a more efficient and commercial alternative.
    ii. The approval and maintenance of monetary and prior review thresholds is important for the faithful implementation of the PPA. The thresholds establish relevant approving authorities and methodologies. “Monetary Thresholds” is defined in the interpretative section of the Act to mean the value limit in Naira set by the Bureau outside of which an approving authority may not award a procurement contract.
    iii. Procurement to be executed:-
    a. by open competitive bidding, except as otherwise exempted;
    b. In a manner which is transparent, timely, and equitable for ensuring accountability and conformity with the Public Procurement Act and regulations deriving therefrom;
    c. With the aim of achieving value for money and fitness for purpose;
    d. In a manner which promotes competition, economy and efficiency; and
    e. In accordance with the laid down procedures and timelines.
    iv. Where the Bureau has set prior review thresholds, no funds shall be disbursed from the Treasury/federation Account/ or any bank account of any procuring entity for any procurement falling above the set thresholds unless the cheque, warrant or other form of request for payment is accompanied by a “Certificate of ‘No Objection’ to Award of Contract” duly issued by the Bureau.
    v. Subject to the monetary and prior review thresholds for procurements, the Parastatal Tenders’ Board of a government agency, Parastatal, or corporation or in the case of a ministry or extra-ministerial entity, the Ministerial Tenders’ Board shall be the Approving Authority for the conduct of public procurement.
    vi. The following procedure shall be observed by ministries, extra ministerial offices, and other arms of government in implementing their procurement plans, viz;
    a. Advertise and solicit for bids in accordance with guidelines prescribed by the Bureau from time to time;
    b. Invite two (2) credible persons as observers in every procurement process, one from a private sector professional organization relevant to the procurement and the other from non-government organization working in transparency, accountability and/or anti-corruption areas;
    c. Receive, evaluate and make a selection of the bids in accordance with prescribed guidelines;
    d. Obtain the approval of the tenders board for the award of contract to successful bidder.
    e. Obtain “certificate of ‘No objection’ to award contract” from the Bureau where contract is outside the threshold.
    vii.All bidders in addition to requirements contained in any solicitation documents shall:
    a.Possess the necessary:
    -Professional and technical qualifications to carry out particular procurement
    -Financial capability;
    -Equipment and other relevant infrastructure;
    -Shall have adequate personnel to perform the obligations of the procurement contracts.
    b. Possess the legal capacity to enter into the procurement contract
    c. Not be in receivership, the subject of any form of insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings or the subject of any form of winding up petition or proceedings
    d. Must have fulfilled all its obligations to pay taxes, pensions and social security contributions.
    viii. Procurement Approval Threshold (2012)

    ix. Reduction or Contract splitting is an offence in the Public Procurement Act.

    x. The Accounting Officer of every procuring entity shall be the person charged with the line supervision of the conduct of all procurement process; in the case of Ministries, the Permanent Secretary and in the case of Extra Ministerial Departments and Corporations, the Director General or Officer of Coordinate responsibility.

    xi. Procurement by Accounting Officers must be on the basis of approved quotation or Tender. Selection must be made from at least three quotations.

    xii. Section 19 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 specifies conditions for “Force Account” i.e Direct Labour, which should be executed within three months, to include

    -The procuring entity has ascertained that a schedule of rates, cost – plus or target contract would not be feasible, as quantities of work to be carried out cannot be defined in advance;

    -Works are small and scattered or in remote locations with no local contractors and demobilization costs for outside contractors would be too high;

    -Works must be carried out without disrupting existing operations;

    -The risk of unavailable work interruptions is better borne by procuring entity than by a contractor;

    -No contractor is interested in conducting the work at a reasonable price;

    -It has been demonstrated that Force Account (Direct Labour) is the only practical method for constructing and maintaining works under special circumstances; or

    -Where national security would be compromised if any other method was used.

     

  • Govt directs ministries, others on data capturing

    The Federal Government has directed Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to abide by the guidelines on the alignment of data capture, identification verification and authentication.

    The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim gave the directive at a workshop by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for MDAs in Abuja.

    Anyim warned MDAs affected by the harmonisation to guide against sabotage.

    He said: “This workshop is not for you to analyse why the policy cannot work or why more time is needed. It is not for you to justify the need for your MDAs to have its own separate process or database.

    “Far from all these, the workshop is for you to quickly determine how your MDA can achieve the objective of streamlining activities of MDAs in identity management.

    “It is for you to optimise the use of scarce government resources and establish a single secure, reliable, accessible and scalable NIMS.’’

    Represented by the Special Assistant to the President in the Office of the SGF, Mr. Ferdinand Agu, Anyim said the integration of diverse data capture process and ubiquitous database in the MDAs was overdue.

    He advised the concerned MDAs to abide by the circular issued on the guidelines on the implementation of the presidential directive.

    “When President Goodluck Jonathan on October 17, 2013 gave the directive for all eligible Nigerians to be enrolled by December 31, he meant it. I enjoin you all to do all you can to ensure compliance.

    “In doing so we must also ensure the complete elimination of duplicated processes and further wastage of resources.

    “The government investment should be consolidated in the most optimal manner by that deadline,’’ he said.

    He said the deployment and management of a system of identity data capturing had been a major national challenge. Ayim said until recently, the multiplication of identity databases by different MDAs was a welcome idea since they served the purposes of managing particular demography unique to the agencies.

    He however said that over time, these databases had become overlapping and burdensome to the government.

    Anyim said in a changing world, systems evolve daily and Nigeria as a global player had no choice but to use identity management as a reliable tool for accelerating socio-economic development.

    Earlier, NIMC’s Director-General, Mr Chris Onyemenam, said printing of the national identity cards had been concluded and waiting for lunch by Jonathan. He said the cards would be issued to Nigerians as soon as the formal lunch was conducted.

    Onyemenam said the harmonisation of the NIMS would reduce the cost of governance, enhance the security of Nigerians as well as enhance government service delivery.

     

  • NIPOST chief urges Abia ministries, others to settle debts

    NIPOST chief urges Abia ministries, others to settle debts

    •Agency marks World Postal Day

    The Abia State Area Postal Manager of the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST), Ignatius Umeadi, has urged ministries and parastatals in the state to settle their debts to the agency to enable it perform its duties effectively.

    Addressing stakeholders in Umuahia, the state capital, during this year’s World Postal Day, Umeadi noted that though the ministries and parastatals are willing to pay their debts, they do not have the funds to do so.

    He urged the government to release money for the “debtors” to pay up.

    The NIPOST chief said the ministries’ and parastatals’ debts piled up from EMS services, post office boxes and bags.

    He said NIPOST remains the best handlers of letter and parcels in Nigeria.

    Umeadi said the agency has 35 functional post offices in the state, adding: “Though they are not being patronised because of the modern-day GSM, which has made texting of messages through phone easier.

    “Parents and education authorities should encourage their children to write letters to them as often as possible to help improve their spelling. This has gone as a result of telephone texting, by which they shorten their words while writing.”

    The NIPOST chief noted that when letter writing was fashionable, spellings and writing of good English grammar were better.

    According to him, the reverse is now the case as many students no longer write good sentences because of text messages.

    Umeadi said the conventional postal services still accounts for major postal revenue.

    He said: “But post can still benefit from the globalisation of mail exchange in other ways, especially in the area of parcel delivery. We (NIPOST) are still the best in the country.”

    The NIPOST chief urged those who order for their goods online to use the agency because “the delivery of their goods and services, such as parcels to customers, are better delivered through post than any other means”.

    Umeadi urged NIPOST workers to prevent the agency from collapse, like the Nigerian Telecommunications Limted (NITEL) and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

    He noted that this year’s event, with the theme: A new strategy for a new world, was apt in repositioning the agency for future challenges.

    According to him, NIPOST has the mandate to provide efficient, reliable and affordable service for Nigeria.

    Umeadi said: “We currently deliver inter-state mails within 72 hours and this feat is achieved as a result of NIPOST’s collaboration with private vehicle owners who have never disappointed us since we started partnering them.”