From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutes (ASURI), the union of all the academic staff of research institutions also involving Project Development Institute (PRODA) has drawn the battle line with the acting Director General of the institute, Dr. Fabian Okonkwo who it has accused of insubordination, extortion and unpatriotic activities.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the Union’s National Secretary, Dr. Theophilous Ndubuaku particularly
expressed sadness over the purported sacking and suspension of some of their members in the procurement department for insisting that due process must be followed in the award of contracts.
He recalled that during the public hearing with the House of Representatives which lasted for three days specifically February 18, 24 and 25, 2021 where the House of Representatives instructed the acting DG of PRODA not to cancel any contract that had been awarded that passed through due approval from BPP.
The acting DG he added was also instructed to recall all procurement officers suspended or sacked without due process to continue to perform their functions.
Meanwhile, Ndubuaku said that the union has also urged the BPP and the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology which is the supervising ministry to relieve the Board Chairman of PRODA, Daniel Onje of his duties for overstaying the required three years statutory tenure as stipulated by the Act establishing the institute.
According to him, Onje was suspended alongside Dr. Agulana who was the substantive DG which brought in the acting Director General, Dr. Okonkwo. However, he noted that Okonkwo was still taking instructions from the suspended chairman whose three years tenure was supposed to end by March 2021.
In a BPP interim procurement audit report on PRODA for the Financial Year 2018, 2019 and 2020 dated May 7, 2021 with Ref No. BPP/S.1/PAR/CCM/21/Vol.1/024 and signed by its Director General, Mamman Ahmadu, it was observed that the reasons adduced by the acting DG of PRODA to cancel an existing contracts does not conform with or cannot be supported by any provisions of the public procurement act, 2007.
“There was no reason to cancel an ongoing or a concluded procurement process, without first seeking the Bureau’s position or relying on the relevant sections of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. For the avoidance of doubt, the reasons highlighted by the acting DG of PRODA for the cancellation of the 2020 procurement are not admissible.
“The procurement filing system at PRODA is cumbersome as the project files were observed to be domiciled with several officers and the office of the acting director general of PRODA leaving the procurement department with few documents. This made file location and retrieval for the audit exercise difficult.
“There was no evidence to show that the PRODA conducted due diligence/post- qualification in line with sections 16(7), 23(10) and 32(3)(1) of public procurement act, 2007 and SGF’s circular with Ref. No. SGF.50/5.52/III/652 dated October 11, 2017 on the winning bidders in the years under review.”
In line with established protocols, a memo from the Federal Ministry of Science of Technology dated March 22, 2021 with Ref No. FMST/PD/541/2020/1/196 and signed by the Director (Procurement), Mr. O.L. Oyadoye consequently enjoined the acting DG of PRODA to comply with the Bureau’s decisions and directives in line with the provisions of section 20 of the public procurement act, 2007 which bestows the Accounting Officer/Director General of an agency the overall responsibility of ensuring compliance with the PPA, 2007.
When contacted the acting DG of PRODA, Okonkwo, on the allegations, he told our correspondent that he was tired and could not talk further. All other effort made to engage him on the phone was not possible as it rang severally without him picking the calls.