The contractor accepted the contract offer on May 26, 2021, which was actually delivered and received by the Ministry of Energy on June 2, 2021.
The Kwara State Government, through the Ministry of Energy, has failed to ensure the delivery of a contract funded by taxpayers’ money after 14 months of payment by the government to the contractor, an investigation done by Elites for Sustainable Development Network (ENetSuD) has revealed.
ENetSuD gathered that following the Ministry’s request, the state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, approved the sum of ₦197,512,500 on May 11, 2021, as the contract sum.
The contract, which was awarded on May 24, 2021, was for the supply of 35 Beltransfo transformers of various capacities through Direct Purchase to Best International Energy Services Ltd.
The contractor accepted the contract offer on May 26, 2021, which was actually delivered and received by the Ministry of Energy on June 2, 2021.
However, a payment voucher dated May 28, 2021, was used to pay the contractor a total sum of ₦138,258,750, representing 70% advance payment (mobilisation fee) to the contractor.
ENetSuD further noted that the letter authorising the release of the payment to the contractor with ref. no. F.113/S.62/T/442 (dated May 20, 2021) was written even before the contract was awarded to the contractor (dated May 24, 2021) and also before the Ministry received the acceptance of the offer from the contractor (June 2, 2021), suggesting a lack of due process and possible procurement malpractice contrary to the state Procurement Law.
In the contract agreement dated June 2, 2021, and signed by the Ministry and the contractor, the contractor was expected to deliver the transformers within three (3) weeks from the date the agreement was signed.
To give a fair hearing to the Ministry and get an update on the project, ENetSuD wrote to the Commissioner of Energy on May 20, 2022, to provide an update on the status of the contract, among others.
The Commissioner admitted in his reply that the contractor was yet to deliver the transformers as of May 23, 2022, but assured that the transformers would be delivered on or before May 31, 2022.
But at the time of filing this report, it was learnt the 35 transformers were yet to be delivered by the contractors.