It may no longer be business as usual for fraudulent and unregistered contractors following the new policy regime announced by the Federal Government which has placed stiff penalties including a five year jail term for culprits, reports Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf
…Carpenter wey no know im work na swegbe eeeh na swegbe oo
Tailor wey dey sew like carpenter na swegbe eeeh na swegbe oo
Doctor wey dey talk like lawyer na swegbe eeeh na swegbe oo
Commissioner wey no know im work na swegbe eeeh na swegbe oo…!”
The above gibe is a lyric from Swegbe and Pako, one of the popular vinyls waxed by the legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti in which the inimitable Fela cast aspersions on a set of people whose level of professionalism and competence is forever in doubt.
Like Fela, the federal government appears to have become intolerant of the so-called contractors whose nefarious activities have continued to have adverse effect on the system to the extent that the country is not only being shortchanged economic-wise, but has become the butt of derisive jokes in the comity of nations.
Crux of the matter
With a few exceptions, a good many Nigerian contractors out there have since gained notoriety for executing poor and shoddy jobs. From civil engineering, road construction, plumbing, electrification to works and housing, the degree of incompetence exhibited by these set of unscrupulous contractors is self-evident in the rapidity of the incidence of collapsed buildings, fallen bridges, road accidents, abandoned projects, to mention just a few.
The challenges posed by the unprofessional conduct of these set of people, has become a serious cause of concern because it has continued to cost the nation loss of resources, lives and property.
Unconfirmed report puts the economic loss recorded by the nation in the last few decades as a result of the nefarious activities of crooked contractors, especially in financial cost terms to several billions of naira, the highest anywhere in the world.
Modus operandi of unscrupulous contractors
Investigation by The Nation revealed that a good many of our local contractors use fronts to obtain jobs from ministries and departmental agencies.
A source in one of the federal ministries who would not be named because he was not authorised to speak, disclosed to The Nation that most of the firms who source for contracts have insiders within the ministries who give them first-hand information and sometimes help them with the necessary documentation at a fee.
Corroborating the foregoing, a staff of the MDG Office, Abuja, who also begged for anonymity, confided in The Nation that some officials act in league with some of these so-called contractors who indulge in all forms of antics to get the job.
According to her, “From my experience a lot of our local contractors who pursue jobs with the ministries deploy all kinds of gimmicks just to get the jobs. I am aware that many tender forged documents and can hardly validate any claims they make. We have treated many cases when we evaluate tenders for contract awards.”
Interestingly, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Engr. Emeka Ezeh, also shares similar sentiments.
Speaking at a public forum in Abuja recently, the BPP boss declared that 80 per cent of contractors who do business with the federal government tender forged documents.
He was addressing a forum of contractors, consultants and service providers of federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.
The DG who frowned at the ignoble practice disclosed that as many as 156 such companies were currently being prosecuted. The worst culprits were local contractors.
His words: “A lot of contractors, especially 80 per cent of the local ones are notorious for submitting fake documents when biding for contracts.
“We see all manner of fake documents such as false Tax Clearance Certificate, PenCom Certificate of Compliance, false claim of personnel, false audited account and use of fake addresses and submission of fake bank statements.
“Currently, there are 156 companies being prosecuted because of this. There is not enough space in our prisons, to accommodate all these fraudulent activities by contractors, so this has to change.”
How Nigeria came to this sorry pass
The question most discerning Nigerians would care to ask is how did the country become enmeshed in this whole mess?
Mrs. Olajumoke Adenowo, an architect who sits atop as Managing Director/Chief Executive, AD Consulting Limited, offers plausible explanation.
At the centre of the crisis, she says, is the problem of culture of mediocrity in the society.
Speaking in an interview with The Nation recently, Adenowo, who has earned many plaudits for her work both locally and internationally, argued that: “It’s not an issue of not having enough laws; it’s an issue of compliance. Some people use non-certified engineers because they are cheaper, others use certified engineers but won’t pay them to supervise. We have had cause to leave a project because the client insisted on using a cheap (certified) engineer whose design was defective. The structural integrity of a building is the structural engineer’s purview but most people who should know better don’t know this. They think somehow the architect is responsible for the structures.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Mr. Afolabi O. Adedeji, an engineer by training and Chief Executive Officer, Ethical Business & Management Associates [EBAM], Victoria island, Lagos, holds the view and very strongly too that the problem touches on the moral of the society.
Adedeji, who had a short stint with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in the 90s, believes that: “For as long as the generality of Nigerians still perceive contracts/government projects as the main route to getting rich quickly, rewarding political party loyalists, taking care of friends, loved ones, blood relations, etc., this problem will remain a hard nut to crack for quite some time to come!
“Corruption has eaten deep into the very fabric of our society. Those assigned with the task of ‘probing’ and/or compiling the list of those to be “blacklisted” may also get corrupted (or perverted). That is the sad reality of our situation in Nigeria today.”
New rules of engagement
Worried by the troubling menace of illegal contractors, the federal government, in all appearances, is out to finally clip their wings.
President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the debarment of contractors, consultants and service providers who violate the public procurement laws.
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, announced the president’s approval recently in Abuja at the 2014 annual Contractors/Consultants and Service Providers Forum, organised by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
The debarment procedure entails the prohibition of a person or company which had been convicted of criminal acts in connection with an application from taking part in future business proposals.
Adoke, who was represented at the occasion by a Director in the Office of the Solicitor-General of the Federation, Mrs. Olosola Moore, also said all contractors and public procurement officers not registered on the database of the procurement agency would henceforth be forbidden from participating in the public contracting system and might be jailed for five years.
According to the minister, four federal ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) are currently on the pilot implementation of the centralised database for public procurement.
He said:”The essence of the provisions of the (public procurement) law highlighted is to stress the need for relevant stakeholders to get registered under the e-platform in order to guarantee the continued participation of their companies in federal procurement’s business.”
He assured the BPP of the backing of the justice ministry in its efforts to bring sanity and transparency into the public contracting process.
Apparently given an imprimatur of support to the new rules of engagement, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Ayim Pius Ayim, said the federal government would no longer condone the increasing incidence of controversial transactions which had become a national embarrassment.
He added that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is currently investigating alleged infractions against the Public Procurement Act, including false claims by contractors.
He said:”Recently, we have been witnesses to controversial transactions by government agencies with contractors that did not follow due processes. Government cannot accept a situation where public procurements become a source of frequent embarrassment. They do not help the nation’s image; neither do they inspire the confidence of the citizenry in government.”
Anyim, represented by Permanent Secretary, Economic Matters, Office of the SGF, Alhaji Abubakar Magaji, said there was no excuse for non-compliance with the procurement laws particularly at a time when resources had become a challenge following the dwindling revenue from oil.
He said government would even go further to debar any contractor banned by the international community.
He explained that the federal government would not hesitate to invoke all the sanctions under the provisions of the Public Procurement Act against any public officer, contractor or consultant who contravenes any provisions of the law.
“It might interest you to know that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and EFCC are currently investigating cases of infractions which include but not limited to collusion among bidders, use of fake documents, false claims by contractors and suppliers and manipulation of the procurement process. I therefore urge you to prevail on all your staff involved in the public procurement process to conduct themselves with the highest sense of responsibility, accountability, ethics and integrity,” the SGF added.
A global phenomenon
Troubling as the problem of unscrupulous local contractors is, investigation by The Nation revealed that it is much a global concern as well.
In the view of some analysts, many people unknowingly hire fake unlicensed contractors for repair work at their homes, businesses and rental properties, especially after going through the yellow pages, Internet search engines or referrals to find and hire one.
Sharing a specific experience, Mr. Allan Smith, a Search Engine Operator in America, recalled how one of his family members had contracted a supposedly licensed contractor to fix the roof of a rental building.
According to him, the contractor had provided a name, license number and company address in the contract.
“For some reason, in the middle of the contract work, the contractor disappeared with the expensive tools that belonged to the homeowner. During efforts to recover the stolen tools, the homeowner realized all provided information were inaccurate and such name, address, and license number did not exist.”
Look before you leap
The best way to avoid the booby trap set by of these so-called fake contractors, Smith advised, is to be wary of any potential hire from the outset.
Waxing philosophical, he said: “If I hire a contractor and he lacks the proper tools for the job that would be a red flag for me and put the contractor right in the list of potential unlicensed contractors. In this case, the homeowner trusted the contractor probably for his own reasons such as low price quote and based on information the contractor readily provided and never considered the additional risks that come with potential fake unlicensed contractors. In some cases, the risks might even be greater than losing the expensive tools.”
Not done yet, he said: “When we hire contractors, we sometimes let them into our house to do the work they were hired for and thus by hiring fake unlicensed contractors, we put our family, personal information and other valuables at risk because of our failure to check on them.”
The new policy regime notwithstanding, not many Nigerians are hopeful that the laws can serve as the necessary deterrent it is meant to be because of the propensity by these so-called contractors to circumvent the laws of the land.
