Amidst Threat Against TheMail Journalist, State Government Report Faults Governor Umo Eno’s Claims on Compliance with Public Procurement Law
TheMail Journalist in a recent media chat with Governor Umo Eno drew the State Government’s attention to failure in compliance with some public procurement demands, the Governor in reaction issued threats of arrest among other forms of bashing insisting that his administration has religiously complied with principles of procurement in the award of contracts.
In this report, Ekemini Simon uses the State Government Report to show the administration’s continued disregard to procurement demands and its knowledge of the poor state of compliance.
By Ekemini Simon
The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Umo Eno has said that contrary to claims from some quarters that his administration is yet to adhere to the demands of the public procurement law of Akwa Ibom State, his administration has religiously followed the demands of the law among other procurement best practices.
The Governor said this on Saturday during a chat held with the Media Community at Government House in Uyo.
According to the Akwa Ibom State Fiscal Responsibility Board, Public procurement is critical for accountability of public expenditure, supports good governance, and assists with economic and social development and public trust in government. The Board says good procurement is essential for ensuring timely delivery of goods, works, and services intended for citizens. It notes that access to procurement information makes citizens more aware of their rights of access to benefits from public programmes and projects; placing them in a better position to challenge and scrutinize the outcome of public procurement.
Mr. Eno who was reacting to questions posed by TheMail reporter on when the government of Akwa Ibom State would adhere to section 16 (1) of the Akwa Ibom State Public Procurement Law 2020 which provides for open competitive bidding in government contracts and section 54 of the law which mandates the State to publish contract information on the public procurement portal.
The reporter had also asked when the High Court project in Nsit Ubium and Nsit Ibom would be implemented in utilization of the N100 million each disbursed for the project as reported in the Budget Performance Report of January -September 2023.
Governor Umo Eno’s Response, Threats
In his response, Governor Umo Eno insisted that his administration has not issued any contract without adherence to the procurement law of the State.
Addressing the reporter, he said ” I think you need to follow through to know that we follow the procurement law and that is why we have the Finance and General-Purpose Committee. We look at these things and we know there is a Permanent Secretary to that Committee. We follow through to ensure the procurement laws are followed. We have not issued one contract without going through those laws.”
The Governor said he understood more than the reporter the implications of not adhering to the procurement law.
Mr. Eno said it was wrong for the journalist to note that there are gaps in the adherence to the procurement law of the State adding that he could arrest the journalist to give proof of his claims.
“For the procurement law, I can tell you that we keep to it. It is very wrong, extremely wrong for you to get up on a live programme, because for you to speak, you speak as if you have all the facts. It is very wrong. If I ask you now to prove what you have said, the whole community will rise up that I have arrested a Journalist”, he said.
Mr. Eno said the claims made by the journalist were lies geared towards misleading the public “You don’t talk like that. We are used to telling lies and we speak it as truth and we sit on it. And because of the way we say it, people believe it. It is absolutely wrong and I will wait for you to prove that we don’t follow procurement law. I would like to state that very clearly.”
He also noted that the journalist was using falsehood to incite by claiming that N100 million each was spent on the High court projects in Nsit Ubium and Nsit Ibom without actual implementation.
Mr. Eno said “When you say money has been taken on the court building, I would like you to show proof that money was taken. This is a live event. Who took the money? Who disbursed the money? You don’t just want to be a superstar by inciting and saying things you don’t have facts for.
” I will advise as a journalist or as a writer before you make some allegations, have clear facts and mention names so that when you say money has been disbursed but the courts are not there. You are talking about the Judiciary, they will take you on.”
State Government Report Faults Umo Eno’s Claims
Governor Umo Eno in his manifesto document tagged ARISE Agenda under the thematic area of Good Governance and Public-Sector Development had pledged that his administration will promote accountability and transparency by ensuring compliance with the Public Procurement Law of the State thus suggesting that he understood the procurement gaps in relationship to the law before he took on the saddle of leadership.
However, 16 months down the line of his administration, the failure to adhere to the governing principles on public procurement in the State has continued and this has been no secret to Governor Umo Eno’s government despite his public claims.
The Public Finance Management report published by the Government of Akwa Ibom State in the 2023 Annual Report of the Akwa Ibom State Fiscal Responsibility Board has exposed the untruth in Governor Umo Eno’s statement and has gone a step further to reveal the administration’s knowledge of the poor public procurement practices in the State.
The Fiscal Responsibility Board established to ensure prudence and transparency in the management of financial resources of the State and to encourage proper accountability by all organs of government in respect of State resources in its report published in April 2024 has exposed the failure of the Akwa Ibom State Government to adhere to public procurement in the 2023 fiscal year.
Governor Umo Eno had served as the Akwa Ibom State Governor for the larger part of 2023 (seven months) from May 29, 2023.
The report assessed the state of public procurement in Akwa Ibom State based on six areas; Public Procurement Law, Independent Procurement Regulatory Agency, Procurement Methods, Public Access to Procurement Information, Procurement Monitoring, and Procurement Complaints Management,
On procurement law, the report provided that the public procurement law of the State has been in place and the printed copy available since 2019.
Besides the availability of law, the State recorded poor performances across other five areas of assessment.
The report showed that on the Independent Procurement Regulatory Agency, the State declined in performance as compared to 2021 and 2022 noting that despite the fact that members of Council/Board (including representatives from professional bodies/associations) had been appointed, though their tenure had expired as at 2023, the Procurement Council and the Bureau are not active.
The report added ” Council meetings are not regularly held, as was the case in 2021. The agency is basically not functioning as stipulated in the law. The Board is very ineffective and inactive “.
On Procurement Methods, the report noted that a good procurement system ensures that procurement uses competitive methods except low-value procurement under an established and appropriate threshold.
Noting the State’s performance, the report stated that Akwa Ibom recorded the lowest score explaining that “There is no evidence to point to the competitive nature of procurement in 2023 and there is no evidence of newspaper advertisement. The State Procurement Bureau website and portal have not been active for several months in 2023 and the latter part of 2022. The State has not implemented e-procurement (such as the implementation of the five e-procurement modules: e-Registration, e-Publishing/Notification, e-Procurement
Plan, e-Tendering, and e-Evaluation/e-Awarding). There is no information in the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) for 2022 and 2023.”
On Public Access to Procurement Information, the report revealed that the State recorded the lowest score due to the fact that public access to procurement information which should be posted on official websites including the State Procurement Bureau website and portal is not available. The report said the State Procurement Bureau Website has not been active for several months in 2023 and the latter part of 2022. “Therefore, none of the key procurement information is available to the public”, the report added.
Interestingly, this observation was also made by BudgIT Foundation in its 2024 first quarter report tagged State Fiscal Responsibility Transparency League. Out of 11 points given to States on the availability of e-procurement portal, Akwa Ibom State recorded zero joining the league of eight other States out of 36 States in Nigeria without a procurement portal.
On Procurement Monitoring, the report stated that Akwa Ibom State performed poorly explaining that there is no evidence within government for monitoring procurement to ensure value for money and promote frugality and integrity of procurement. The report added that the State Procurement Bureau website and portal have not been active which would have aided the monitoring.
On Procurement Complaints Management, the report noted that the State again scored the least, explaining that the Akwa Ibom State Public Procurement Law made provision for complaints management. It noted that “Whereas the law empowers the Attorney General to constitute an Independent Body/Committee to review procurement complaints, the referenced independent procurement review body has neither been constituted nor inaugurated in line with the law at the time of the current assessment”.
FGPC not the Authority on Public Procurement
Governor Umo Eno has said that procurement by his administration is guided by the Finance and General-Purpose Committee. But this is not what the law of the land recognizes. Section 4 of the Akwa Ibom State Public Procurement Law 2020 gives the power to the Bureau of Public Procurement.
Government Financial Book Points to Unaccounted Expenditure on High Court
While Governor Umo Eno had dismissed as unsubstantiated fact TheMail’s reporter question on the whereabouts of the High Court projects in Nsit Ubium and Nsit Ibom which N200 million was spent between January -September 2023, the Akwa Ibom State Government Budget Performance Report of 2023 published in the 2024 Approved Budget leaves a trace that cannot be dismissed by the wave of the hand.
On page 294 of the document, captured under the performance of January -September 2023, the State Government reported that N100 million each was spent on the project. TheMail Newspaper in an investigative report published in August 2023 had shown that the project was not found at these locations despite donation of land by the local government council of Nsit Ubium.