Reps probe NBET over several corruption allegations

Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and its Managing Director, Marilyn Amobi, have come under the microscope of the House of Representatives for alleged involvement in several corrupt acts.

Following a motion by Mohammed Sabo on Tuesday, the House has mandated two of its committees to investigate NBET and its management over several corruption allegations.

Raising the motion, Sabo said that the management of NBET was accused of violating the public procurement act costing the Federal Government over N90 billion.

According to him, these losses came about as a result of total disregard for the act by the Managing Director and Management of NBET in the execution of Power Purchase Agreements and other dealings with consultants.

Some of the allegations is that NBET management engaged “Messrs AELEX (Law Firm) and Azinge & Azinge (Law Firm) despite the fact that the lacked basic bidding documents, the least responsive bidder being was not awarded the contract and the required authorisation from the Attorney General of the Federation was not obtained prior to the engagement of these Law Firms.

“The House of Reps further notes that most contractors and vendors engaged by NBET are not registered with the Bureau of Public Procurement, neither are they registered on the National Database of Federal Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers which is a gross violation of the provisions of the Act;

“The House of Reps observes that the Managing Director and Management of NBET and the Management NBET have been accused of awarding contracts arbitrarily and not to the lowest evaluated responsive bid as required by Section 16(17) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 resulting in losses worth billions of Naira.”

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Sabo told the House that should the allegations be left without proper investigation, it would create “an institutional system of manipulation of the procurement” leading to financial losses to the federal government.

Consequently, the House unanimously referred the matter to its committees on Public Procurement and Power to jointly investigate and report back in two weeks.

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