N628Million Renovation: My Story
Patricia Etteh
Submission by The Honourable Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Hon. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, to the House Ad-Hoc Committee on
Award of Contracts for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s Residences and for Purchase
of Official Vehicles for Principal Officers of the House on Thursday, September
20, 2007
Mr. Chairman, Honourable Members of this Committee
I thank you for inviting me to appear before you to state and elucidate all
that I know about the contracts to renovate and upgrade the official residences
of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker and the purchase of official vehicles for
the Principal Officers of the House of Representatives. I am also
grateful to my colleagues who raised the alarm on the speculation that a
whopping sum of Six hundred and Twenty Eight Million Naira (N628Million) was
purportedly spent by me to renovate the official residences of the Speaker and
the Deputy Speaker and for the purchase of official vehicles for the Principal
Officers of the House of Representatives.
Their action is undoubtedly a welcome development for our emerging
democracy. It is indeed a practical demonstration of democratic
practice. Democracy, as the preferred system of government by all
Nigerians, may not take effective root in our country if members of the
National Assembly that are expected to be the cornerstone of democracy by their
constitutionally assigned powers of checks and balances keep mute when they
should not. Thus, far from being a demoralizing incident or an attempt to
pull down the Leadership of the House of Representatives, the alarm is an
effective reminder to me of the determination of the House to support and
ensure the success of the 7-point agenda of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua with
particular emphasis on the creed of zero tolerance for corruption. I
therefore salute the courage of all those who raised the alarm and those who
tried to explain the correct position of the public. It is with pride
that I associate with this calibre of Colleagues because by this act, they have
demonstrated to the Nigerian people and the International Community that
prudence, accountability and transparency are the watch word of Nigeria’s House of Representatives and important ingredients required for the growth and
sustenance of an enduring democracy.
Appearance Before the Committee
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, my appearance here today is in accordance
with the tenets and practice of democracy and in compliance with section 89 of
our Constitution, other extant laws such as legislative Houses (Powers and
Privileges) Act, Parliamentary Conventions and Precedence. For the
avoidance of doubt, permit me to quote the relevant sections of our
Constitution relevant sections of our Constitution referred to above.
“For the purpose of any investigation under Section 89 of this Constitution and
subject to the provisions thereof, the Senate or the House of Representatives
or a Committee appointed in accordance with Section 62 of this Constitution
shall have power to –
(a) procure all such evidence, written or oral, direct or circumstantial,
as it may think necessary or desirable, and examine all persons as witnesses
whose evidence may be material or relevant to the subject matter:
(b) request such evidence to be given on oath;
(c) summon any person in Nigeria to give evidence at any place or produce
any document or other things in his possession or under his possession or under
his control, and examine him as a witness and require him to produce any
document or other things in his possession or under his control, subject to all
just exceptions….”
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, I am the political Head of the
House. My gender equally has conferred on me another important but
unofficial status, which is, the “mother” of the House. I therefore wish
to state that as Head and mother, I appear here today not only for myself but
also on behalf of all the principal officers who have equally been invited to
appear before this Committee.
As leader, I will take responsibility for my actions and that of all the
principal officers for the purpose of this submission and the issues at hand.
The Committee’s Terms of Reference.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, this Committee came into existence as a
result of motion that was adopted by the House on the 5th day of September
2007 the motion states inter alia:
“The House does set up an Independent AD-hoc Committee cutting across parties
to thoroughly investigate the matter with a view to restoring the integrity of
the House and its leadership”following the adoption of the above motion, the
House constituted your Committee with the following Terms of Reference (TOR):
1. Examine the award of contract for the upgrading of the official
residences of the Speaker, and Deputy Speaker.
2. Examine the contract for the purchase of the official and utility
vehicles for the leadership of the House, and report to the house in two weeks.
Mr. Chairman, I am confident that my submission will address and clarify the
issues envisaged by the Committee’s Terms of Reference. Contrary to the
perception that the Speaker’s office requested that the official residences of
the Honourable Speaker and her Deputy should be renovated and upgraded with the
sum of N628, 000,000, I wish to state categorically that the process to upgrade
and renovate the official residences of the Presiding Officers of the House
started long before I came into office as correspondences between the
management of the National Assembly and FCDA revealed. It is the responsibility
of the management of the National Assembly as the custodian of the Presiding
Officers’ official residences to initiate such process.
The need to renovate and upgrade the Houses was conveyed to me by the
Management of the National Assembly when it drew my attention to the obvious
lapses and inadequacies in the structures that ought to house the Presiding
Officers.
First, it was pointed out by the management of the National Assembly in its
memo to the Body of Principal Officers that the official residence of the
Honourable Speaker had “not undergone any major renovation since 1999”.
It therefore required major reconstructions renovations and upgrade. I
hereby submit the memo under reference as Annexure 1.
Second, it was observed by the management of the National Assembly that the
entire complex as at time in question was bare of furniture and household
utilities. By government policy, the life span of the official furniture
is four years.
Therefore, it is the normal practice to renovate official quarters and provide
furnishing when the tenure of the occupant expires.
Third, apart from the fact that the complex required total furnishing, it was
also confirmed that the structure of the houses needed major structural, civil,
mechanical and electrical engineering works. Some parts of the leaked,
admitting rain and other elements into the room; some walls had crated and
there were other structural defects that needed to be rectified to restore the
buildings to functional use. The external parts of the complex also
required rectifications. The Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA,
had also written the Clerk of the National Assembly, copying the immediate past
Speaker, indicting the imminence of the demolition of the security post a distance
away fro the main House.
Four, since 1999 the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives has no
official Residence. The Official Residence of the Deputy Speaker was
commission about a year ago but has remained uninhabitable. Mr. Chairman,
Honourable Members, let me quote from the statement of the Management of the
National Assembly in this regard:
“The national Assembly wishes to put on record that the value of the contract
for the upgrade works including security system in the cluster of structures at
the official residence of the Honourable Deputy Speaker is N90,269,225.25 while
furnishing and fittings cost N55,200,000.00. this residence has never
been occupied, because it is not habitable. The compound is located
adjacent to a stream, and this makes it marshy especially during the rainy
season. It is also close to a major storm drain which regularly overflows
with storm water that causes substantial damage to the precincts.
Moreover, the compound adjoins an uncompleted and abandoned fire station as well
as the only recreation facility for Apo quarters. It therefore demands
extensive re-engineering works to enhance security, improve the technical
status of the structures and avail the entire premises a facelift”.
This is tendered as Annexure 2.
Procedures and Due Process.
It was after exhaustive consultations on the best way forward that the
management of the National Assembly invited, by selective tender, bids for the
execution of the contracts to upgrade, renovate and furnish the official
residences of the Presiding Officers. I understand that the recourse to
the government-approved option of selective tendering was dictated by the
desire to protect the security of the Residents which are regarded as security
sensitive.
Mr. Chairman I invite you to note that as Speaker of the House of
Representatives, I am the Chief Executive of the House while the Clerk of the
National Assembly is the Chief Accounting and Administrative Officer of the
National assembly. All correspondences to the House are addressed to the
Speaker. Where correspondences are routed to any other person, approval
to initiate action or any matter in relation to the House must be given by the
Speaker.
I further wish to place on record that since 1999, except for a brief period, I
Have served as a Principal Officer of the House. In that capacity, I had
participated as a member of the Body of Principal Officers. I have thus
gained experience in the operation of the Body and the National Assembly
procedure for the award of contract.
The established procedure was complied with in the award of the six contracts
in question. I only participated, as usual in the meeting as member of
the Body of Principal Officer; in this case as the Chairman.
The Body of Principal Officers was called upon at the Tenders’ Board meeting to
approve the contracts based on the recommendations of the management of the
National Assembly. Their recommendation and record of the decisions taken
are contained in the memoranda and the minutes of the meting respectively which
are already in your possession.
It will interest members of the Committee to note that the memo to renovate,
upgrade and furnish the residences of the Presiding Officers originated from
the office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. On receipt of
the quotations, I minuted them to the Clerk of the National Assembly (CNA) to
process. The CNA thereafter directed the Director of Estate and Works
(DEW) to process and who in turn passed same to the Chief Architect to
“analyse, vet and bring up”. From the documents placed before me and the
Body of Principal Officers, the Chief Architect confirmed to have carried out a
comprehensive analysis of the bill of quantities which inevitably caused the
reduction of the contract sum submitted by the lowest bidder from N242,
478,279.00 to N238,852, 192.90 (see Annexure 3.). For the avoidance of
doubt, it is pertinent to state therefore that the contract for the renovation
and upgrading of the residence of the Speaker was awarded at the recommended sum
of N238,852, 192.90 and NOT N628,000,000 as being touted by those who are out
to malign my good name and the office of the Speaker.
Suffice it to say that the contract sum for works on the Speaker’s residence
was to be expended on renovating and upgrading of the main house which contains
10 bedrooms, 7 sitting rooms, a private office, a study and other
facilities.
There were also a 3-bedroom Guest House, a 3-bedroom ADC’s House, a 4-bedroom
Domestic staff House, a reception block, a radio room, a Power House and
Lock-up Garages. It was also to be expended on the construction of a new
security House, relocation of the Mosque in the Compound, the construction of a
chapel, furnishings, fittings, communication gadgets and one-year maintenance
fee. This also applies largely to the Deputy Speaker’s house except that
in his case, the fence of the Compound, as a result of the precarious location
of the house needed to be upgraded. A generating set and security devices
were to be purchase and installed.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, it may interest you to also know that of
the contract sum of N238,852,129.90 only N59.7 Million representing 25% of the
contract sum has been paid to date. This amount (N59.7 million) was
guaranteed by a bank bond of the value of N181 million.
On the issues of purchase of vehicles, I wish to state that the 10 vehicles
were for the use of all the Principal Officers of the House of Representatives
as approved by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
Since it is generally accepted in civil service regulation that the life span
of a vehicle attached to a public officers which they used for 4 years had been
sold to them. This necessitated that new set of vehicles had to be
purchased for the new principal officers. You may wish to know Mr.
Chairman and Honourable Members that up to date the vehicles have neither been
supplied nor paid for. It is therefore incorrect, mischievous and indeed
a misinformation for any body to say that, I the speaker, purchased 10 vehicles
for use.
Alleged Presure on Management of the National Assembly to Award Contracts.
Nothing can be further from the truth. It is germane to state the
circumstances under which the contracts were awarded.
First, the Official residence of the Speaker is not an ordinary residence; it
is also a symbol and reflection of the status of the House of
Representatives. It is common knowledge that the official demands of my
office as presiding Officer of the House and, by the special grace of the
almighty God, the official number four citizen of our country, make it
practically impossible to play host to all important national and foreign
personalities during official hours. As the Speaker, I am entitled to a
decent and secure environment where these categories of people can be received
and hosted.
It therefore, became imperative to expedite work on the official residence of
the Speaker, since my private residence at Gwarinpa was not suitable.
It is worthy of note that after my election as the Speaker I should have enjoyed
the privilege of moving immediately into a Presidential suit in a
five-star hotel for 107 days which would have gulped over
N244,000,000.00. but I rejected this official hotel accommodation
provided for me and elected to stay instead in my Gwarinpa private
residence. I also directed the Deputy Speaker and all our aides to follow
suit. We equally refused to take any money in lieu of hotel accommodation
and none of our aides did.
As a member and now as Speaker, I am committed to service. I am not in
any way driven by extravagance, comfort or personal gain. Any responsible
officer eager to eager perform would definitely keep on their toes all those
whose duty it was to ensure that the renovation and upgrading works were
completed on time to enable us move into our official residences.
Possible Lapses in Contractor’s Documents
I wish to state categorically that it is not my responsibility as Speaker or
Chairman of Body of Principal officers to vet contract documents. In all
the tender and contracts award documents before you, there was no place where
the management that proposed, vetted and recommended the contracts and
contractors to the body of Principal Officers drew our attention to any defect
in the documents.
Notwithstanding, I did not fail to exercise political judgment and due
diligence. Permit me Mr. Chairman to quote the minutes of the meeting in
issue where clarifications were sought from management:
“At this juncture, the Chairman sought clarification from the Director of
Legal Services as to the propriety or otherwise of the procedure being
adopted Especially in respect of Advance payment, etc.
to which he answered in the Affirmative”.
I present the minutes as Annexure 4.
Conclusion
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, from the foregoing it is evident
that the allegations against my person and office are tissues of lies,
misinformation and blackmail. The orchestrated and well oiled negative
campaign against me was designed to tarnish not just my image and integrity but
to dent the image of the House and foist permanent instability in an otherwise
relatively peaceful and stable House. Democracy can only thrive when you
have a stable, virile and focused legislature will not only be inept but have
the potential to promote instability in the larger society. The House of
Representatives since the days of former Speaker Honourable Ghali Umar Na’abba
and up to date has enjoyed reasonable stability. This has made it
possible for the House to exercise its independence, carry out effectively its
law-making and oversight functions. The present attempt to destabilize
the House using personal and parochial issues should not be allowed to derail
our focus.
Mr. Chairman and respected Members of this Committee, I have established from
my body of evidence that:
1.There was an obvious need to renovate, upgrade and furnish the residences of
the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The case for such work was clearly
established by Management of the National Assembly even before I became
Speaker.
2. There was an obvious need to purchase the 10 Nos vehicles fro the Principal
Officers of the House as approved by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and
Fiscal Commission and funds provided for in the 2007 Appropriation Act.
3.The Tender’s Board of which I am the Chairman acted on the professional
advice of the management of the National Assembly who themselves are members
and were present at the meeting. Their recommendations and the decisions
reached are in the memoranda and minutes of the meeting already in your
possession. Mr. Chairman, financial and administrative competence of the
management.
4.The contract sum for the renovation and upgrading of the residence of the
Speaker is N238,852,198.95 and N628,000,000
5.The contract sum for the renovation and Furnishing of the Deputy Speaker’s
residence is N90,269,225.25 and N50, 200, 000.00
6.The Speaker’s Residence comprises the main house which contains 10 bedrooms,
7 sitting rooms, a private office, a study and other facilities. There
was also a 3-bedroom Guest House, a 3- bedroom ADC’s House, a 4- bedroom
Domestic staff House, a reception block, a radio room, a Power House and
Lock-up Garages.
7. The vehicles for the Principal officers have neither been supplied nor been
paid for.
8. Out of the contract sum of N238,852198.95 only N59. 7 million has been paid
to date and this amount is guaranteed by a bank bond for a value of
N181,000million.
9. As at today, no money has been paid in respect of the upgrading works
or the furnishing of the Deputy Speaker’s residences.
10. It is my responsibility as Speaker and Chairman of the Body of Principal
Officers to process Contract documents.
Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members, my pledge to Nigeria is that I will remain
patriotic in the discharge of my duties to the House and the people of Nigeria.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the motion which led to the setting up of this Committee
prayed, “the House do set up an independent Ad-hoc Committee cutting across
parties to thoroughly investigate the matter with a view to restoring the
integrity of the House and its leadership”.
I have faith in your impartiality and independence and I am confident that my
testimony this day has cleared the hazy clouds hovering over this matter and
that I have succeeded in restoring the integrity of the House and its
leadership.
May God bless you as you discharge your assignment without fear or favour, or
ill-will.
Thank you.
|
RSS Feeds | Podcasts
Posted by Robot| 21.09.2007 00:04