$470m CCTV contract award didn’t follow due process —BPP

We delivered best video surveillance system to FG—ZTE

By Emman Ovuakporie & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—THE Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, yesterday said  the $470 million contract awarded by the late President Musa Yar’Adua’s administration for the procurement and installation of Close Circuit Television, CCTV, in Lagos and Abuja did not follow due process.

The Director General of BPP, Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this at an investigative hearing by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee set up by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, to unravel the circumstances of the award of the contract and the failure of ZTE Corporation to complete the contract.

The BPP Director-General told the  Ahmed Yerima-led committee that his office did not issue certificate of no objection in the award.

But the former DG of NigComSat, Ahmed Rufa’i, said award of the contract was through a presidential approval, contending that it was not all issues, especially those that had to do with the security of the country, that should pass through the BPP due to its implications.

Rufa’i told the committee that there was no problem with the award of the project which he said was completed but that the government did not provide money for the operational cost for it to function.

He added  that in the Procurement Act, the President had discretionary powers to approve procurement without going through the BPP.

Chinese telecom giant, ZTE, in its submission, denied any wrong doing in the execution of the National Public Security Communication System, NPSCS, project.

ZTENigeria Managing Director, Mr. Had Fuqiang, said it completed and delivered what it described as one of the world’s best Video Surveillance System, VSS, to the Federal Government.

Fuqiang said: “Contrary to public perception, the project was not to merely install cameras but one conceived to deploy comprehensive, reliable, modern and robust National Public Security Communications System, NPSCS.

‘’The NPSCS  project is made up of five components or subsystems.

”The Managing Director of BPP, Mr. Ezeh had in his submission said BPP did not recognize the existence of any contract for the installation of CCTV cameras in Lagos and Abuja by the Ministry of Police Affairs.

“The contract for the installation of CCTV Cameras in Abuja and Lagos under the National Public Security Communication System project was not processed at the Bureau of Public Procurement prior to award. In other words, the project was not issued a due process certificate of no objection by the BPP.

“Considering the purported cost of contract in US$470 million, the contract ought to have been accompanied with a certificate of no objection issued by the BPP.”