The Bureau mentioned that the 33 agreements the TCN granted under the emergency situation procedure were not certified to be emergency situation, according to the arrangements of Section 43 of the general public Procurement Act, 2007.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has actually responded to a claims by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, breached the general public Procurement Act, 2007 in N5,677,692,943.26 worth of agreement award.
SaharaReporters previously reported that a file from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) exposed that the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TCN breached the general public Procurement Act, 2007 in N5,677,692,943.26 worth of agreement award.
The file in which the BPP examined and reacted to TCN’s demand letter for “No Objection” for 285 agreements it granted under emergency situation procedure revealed that the Bureau declined to approve the demand and plainly mentioned that the business broke the Procurement Act in 33 of the agreements.
The Bureau explained that the 33 agreements the TCN granted under the emergency situation procedure were not certified to be emergency situation, according to the arrangements of Section 43 of the general public Procurement Act, 2007.
Responding to the BPP report, TCN in a rejoinder by its General Manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, the business did not breach the arrangements of Section 43 of the general public Procurement Act, 2007 as declared by the BPP file.
The TCN representative stated, “In accordance with the demand by Sahara Reporters pricing quote the file from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on declared infractions of some arrangements of the law in the procurement procedure by the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN), contrary to that allusion, no such thing has actually occurred– a minimum of not with the astute management in location at TCN.”
She worried that Section 43 of the general public Procurement Act 2007, mentions that “An acquiring entity might for the function of this Act, perform emergency situation procurement where the; (a) the nation is either seriously threatened by or in fact faced with a catastrophe, disaster, war, insurrection or disaster. The condition or quality of items, devices, structure, or openly owned capital products might seriously degrade unless action is urgently and always required to keep them in their real worth or effectiveness.”
According to the TCN representative, “Under this condition, TCN can carry out emergency situation procurement of the jobs.
“The procedure of management is hard and often needs remarkable steps to put things in location. It is relevant to state at this point, that every agreement granted to treat the viewed observations followed due procedure.
“The TCN management has in location Technical and Legal departments that inspects all submissions in addition to the Procurement and Audit Departments; together, they make sure that policies governing pre and real credentials remain in location such as legitimate Company Profiles, Tax, and comprehensive status of appropriate professionals.
“Under the scenarios, it is difficult for any underhand practice to happen, not to discuss conflict of the guidelines.
“The management of the TCN is concentrated on shipment of its required and has actually never ever shied from this duty.
“However, in the course of conference Nigeria’s alarming electrical energy requirements, the management is not averse to embracing some sped up procurement procedure (Emergency procurement), where there is requirement to embrace unique approaches in the procurement of important and extremely immediate facilities, that need interactions with that of other stakeholders in the sector.
“Furthermore, it is the decision of the TCN management never ever to grumble however to release its tasks with the greatest level of skills and professionalism, specifically with the substantial finalizing of what is called ‘Service Level Agreement’ in between it and circulation business (Discos) throughout the nation on no tolerance for blackouts among other things, to prevent tampering of the credibility and profits of the business, if these jobs are not acquired within sensible time.”
She even more mentioned that it is essential to comprehend that the management of electrical power generation and circulation focuses on some sort of level of sensitivity which is open to specialists in the field and some stakeholders.
“We require to restate that the TCN management runs within the ambits of the law for which all ratifications needed for the smooth running of its operations were appropriately gotten in accordance with the law.
“TCN can not start any direct emergency situation procurement procedure for the enjoyable of it and all the works and supply agreements performed in the course of its project remain in order and warranted.
“The management will constantly stay patriotic and definitely dedicated to the discharge of its tasks; it remains in the light of this that in line with the arrangements of area 42 of the general public Procurement Act 2007, for direct procurement, TCN acquired main approval from the BPP for the stated jobs after due procedure.
“It is necessary to stay concentrated and not to be sidetracked.
“However, it is relevant for to understand that the TCN has more than 18,000 km of 330kV and 132kV high voltage transmission lines and transmission towers passing through the whole country, and a number of through extremely tough surfaces consisting of swamps, forests; consisting of locations susceptible to flooding which triggers quick disintegration of tower bases and natural catastrophes.
“Also a few of these towers and lines travel through landmines in revolt vulnerable locations, which is inescapable as the lines need to communicate electrical energy to residents.
“These challenging surfaces adversely effect on smooth circulation of electrical energy and highlights the requirement for emergency situation procurement when it comes to repair work. As an outcome of the scourge of revolt and vandalisation that threatens transmission, these towers should be rapidly fixed to prevent partial or overall collapse of the country’s grid. In this case, the approach of emergency situation procurement to rapidly effect repair work would be embraced!
“In addition to that, please note that the TCN transfers power from over 25 Generating Companies situated at various parts of the nation to 11 Distribution Companies and some worldwide consumers; this big stretch of transmission network is exposed to numerous attacks by vandals and insurgents.
“A case in point is that within the months of December, 2023, till date there have actually been numerous acts of vandalism which reduced crucial transmission towers triggering power interruptions in more than one state at a time.
“Specifically, on the 21st of December, 2023, transmission tower 372 around Katsita town in Yobe State was vandalised lowering the 330KV Transmission Tower which pulled Tower 373 along the exact same path!
“Again, on the 28th of December of exact same year, 3 transmission towers were reduced along the Maiduguri-Damaturu transmission line with dynamites by insurgents. And this tossed the whole Northeast into darkness.
“Situations like this need instant mobilisation of males and resources to bring back power supply to the impacted countless Nigerians who should have been tossed into darkness by the event. Approval for such emergency situation works are afterwards acquired from the pertinent authorities.”