Oil & gas pre-shipment contract: Be wary of interferences by aides, anti-graft group cautions Tinubu  

A rights group with interest in sanitising the oil and gas sector has raised the alarm over alleged attempts by vested interests in the presidency to subvert the already concluded bidding process to engage consultants for the pre-shipment inspection agents (PIAs) and monitoring/evaluation agents (MEAs) under the Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS).

The bidding process for the PIAs and MEAs which was issued through the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning was transparently handed in line with the Procurement Act 2007 and other extant laws.  

After satisfying all the pre-qualification requirements, including expertise and tract record of experience, the contract has been awarded to highly qualified Nigerian companies via an approval letter referenced PRES/87/MF/314 dated 15th May, 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. 

However, some elements in Tinubu’s government are desperately bent on thwarting the process and causing an ignominious policy reversal.

In a press statement issued to journalists in Abuja by the national coordinator of Transparency Alliance Network, Zakary Musa Zubairu, the group expressed optimism that such rascality has no place in the Renewed Hope agenda and continuity policy of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The statement added that “those seeking to exploit their proximity to power and the trust reposed in them by President Tinubu to enrich themselves should know that there’s no room for such criminality in this administration.” 

According to the statement, “We have very reliable and credible intelligence at our disposal that after passing through the bidding and pre-qualification process for the pre-shipment inspection and monitoring in the oil and gas sector, vested interests in the Office of the Chief of Staff have removed the names of the companies that clearly won the bid and replaced it with their preferred companies without recourse to the already concluded process. This is not only criminal but a breach of the Procurement Act. We therefore demand its immediate reversal.”

The group maintained that with the strategic importance of the pre-shipment inspection and monitoring in the verification of the quality, quantity, pricing, currency exchange rate and financial terms, including monitoring and evaluating, it is important to follow due process and not resort to sharp practices that will further worsen the energy crisis Nigeria is currently facing especially with the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.