The Senate Public Account Committee on Tuesday began investigation on the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) over the alleged non-compliance with Public Procurement Act in the award of a N229m contract.
The probe was based on the query contained in the 2017 report of the Auditor General for the Federation.
The Chairman of the Senate panel, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, sustained the query at the sitting of his panel on Tuesday and demanded further information from the agency.
The query read, “Audit observed that capital payment vouchers reference number: NIMC/LS/IGL/1/11/105, dated 25th October 2017 for ₦229.7 million showed that NIMC procured 22 units of HP blade servers for Morpho BSS upgrade.
“The items were supplied. There was no evidence of Ministerial Tender’s Board approval, thus, negating the mandatory Open Competitive bidding. Public advertisement in at least two national dailies, as required by Financial Regulation 2907 (1) and section 251(ii) of the Public Procurement Act was absent.
“There was an initial payment of ₦103.4 million vide payment voucher number NIMC/01/016 CA/18 dated 19/01/18, representing 45% of the contract sum as against the mobilisation fee of 15 per cent. The other subsequent payments were not also backed by an interim performance certificate as required by Section 35(2) of the public procurement Act 2007.
“This is an indication of weakness in the internal control system at National Identity Management Commission.
“This could lead to poor value for money and possibility of misapplication and misappropriation of funds.”
The Director-General of NIMC, Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, said that the contract fell within the threshold of the NICM’s Tenders Board because it is classified under ‘works’.
He said that all the servers had been supplied before the initial payment of 45 percent, which he said represents part payment and not mobilisation due to paucity of funds.
Aziz told the committee that the amount was meant to procure 22 blade servers to accommodate 20 million enrollment records, adding that the contract was a continuation of procurement of Enterprise Servers and Storage Solution and Equipment which was awarded in 2012.
He said the commission had registered 57 million people as of Tuesday while 90 servers were needed to register 100 million Nigerians, adding that it will on Wednesday submit a N25bn proposal to buy more servers in order to take the whole population.
But Uroghide said that it is wrong for the Commission to continue the 2012 procurement process in 2017.
The Committee mandated the NIMC management to reappear next week Thursday with more documents to back up their claims.
