2022 Budget: Research Institute’s Bid To Execute N80bn Constituency Projects Raises Eyebrows – Newstrends
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2022 Budget: Research Institute’s Bid To Execute N80bn Constituency Projects Raises Eyebrows

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An advertisement placed by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) in some Nigerian newspapers on Monday April 18, 2022, calling for bids for ‘2020 direct line capital and zonal intervention projects worth about N80 billion has raised eyebrows, Daily Trust on Sunday can report.

While observers have said it was an aberration for NBRRI to delve into capital projects which are outside their core mandate, the agency said they cannot reject constituency projects brought to them for execution by federal lawmakers.

Daily Trust on Sunday reports that apart from NBRRI, many government MDAs have been running newspaper adverts calling for bids to execute contracts considered to be outside their core mandates.

In the advertisement under reference, the research institute (NBRRI) expressed its desire to execute some capital projects under the 2022 Budget Appropriation.

The scope of work, as contained in the advert, involves the construction of classroom blocks, skills centres/town halls, construction of earth roads, with hydraulic structures, asphalt overlay, solar street lights, motorized boreholes, and supply of goods, among other projects.

This has, however, raised questions as to why an agency of government with the core mandate of conducting research would be involved in executing capital projects. 

NBRRI’s mandate

NBRRI is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

Established in 1978 to carry out research and development activities into the many aspects of the industries in charge of building and construction of roads, its statutory function, according to our findings, is to conduct coordinated applied research and development into the many sections of the building and construction sectors of the economy.

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Some of the areas in which NBRRI is mandated to conduct research, according to our findings, are the following: Local building and construction materials to determine the most effective and economic methods of their utilization; architectural design of buildings to suit Nigerian climatic conditions with respect to lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort, and humidity; the design and performance of functional units in buildings including electrical installations, plumbing, painting, drainage, ventilation, and air-conditioning system; local construction, foundation and earth-works for buildings and bridges, especially on problem soils.

In 1993, the mandate of the institute was said to have been further expanded to include Research and Development (R&D) into all possible aspects of materials of engineering which are used in relation to the construction industry, our findings reveal.

Questions trail bid for over 500 constituency projects

However, a scrutiny of the advertisement indicates that NBRRI invited bidding for over 500 projects in different parts of the country which were categorized into A, B, C, D and E.

While category ‘A’ sought pre-qualification for 48 projects, including works, goods, and services, category ‘B’ invited bids for 263 projects.

In the same vein, category C invited tenders for 12 projects while categories D and E sought to bid for 6 and 30 projects respectively.

Questions are being raised over the inclusion of 80 per cent of the projects which are constituency related and considered to be outside the mandate of the organization.

For instance, under category A, the research institute plans to execute projects believed to be outside its jurisdiction, among which is the erection of high-intensity solar street lights for surveillance in selected areas of Surulere, Lagos.

Besides calling for bidding to undertake a project for the development of a 150kw solar mini-grid for the off-national grid at Kwalita village, Dobi, Gwagwalada in the FCT, it also sought to undertake the provision of high-efficiency solar street lights within and around some schools and rural communities in North-Central, North-West, and South-West for security surveillance.

Other ‘strange’ projects NBRRI has called for bid to undertake include the procurement of freezers, fridges, generators, grinding machines, vulcanizing machines for youth empowerment in Anambra State, the provision of educational materials in Gindiri, Plateau State, as well as the supply of classroom furniture at Ojokoro, Ashafa, Irepodun communities.

Also, the agency plans to undertake projects for the supply of classroom furniture in the Aiyetoro-Ajeromi and Badagry communities, equipping of the Central Auditorium and Multi-Purpose Hall in Naki Gori and Yola Wakat in the North-Central zone, and the supply of empowerment as well as provision of empowerment items to women at Danmaje and other LGAs.

Similarly, NBRRI is being questioned over its bid to undertake a project for capacity building and empowerment of indigents on cassava value-chain by-products in Anambra North.   

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Under category ‘B’ as contained in the advert, which is tagged ‘technical and financial bid’, NBRRI invited bid to undertake a project for the installation of its (NBRRI) fabricated solar streetlight in Gombe Sought LGA, provision and installation of NBRRI fabricated integrated solar streetlights to communities in Awe, Doma, Keana Federal Constituency of Nasarawa State, as well as a contract for what it tagged ‘using NBRRI finished products on rural road construction technology in Ikenne LGA of Ogun State.’

While calling for a bid to undertake a project for the provision of health treatment, supply of drugs, and health insurance for the people of Ibadan, the NBRRI advert also sought to supply and install all-in-one solar street lights in all the six geopolitical zones, according to the tender.

This is in addition to seeking bids for the provision of health treatment, supply of drugs, and health insurance for the people of Ibadan, Oyo State, as well as the construction of solar-powered boreholes and solar-powered streetlights in Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State.

Also advertised for bidding by NBRRI is a contract for the provision and installation of streetlights at Aiyetoro, Gbede, in Kogi West Senatorial District, and another for the supply and installation of 3-in-1 solar streetlights at various locations in Nasarawa South.

Similarly, the research institute intends to undertake the construction and provision of solar streetlights with lithium-ion battery, 10,000 lumens with PIR in Gunda, Garubla, Borno State, as well as the construction of solar-powered boreholes, the construction of an inner road at Pambara Extension 1 and 2, construction of culverts at Pambara extensions 1 and 2, Ushafa-Abuja.

It’s an aberration – Rafsanjani

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), said it was an aberration for a research-based organisation like NBRRI to be undertaking constituency projects.

“Aside from being a negation of the mandate given to them, it is also a clear case of non-adherence to the Public Procurement law. If the National Assembly lawmakers are asking them to do a wrong thing as in this case, they should reject that and stay within their mandate.

“They (NBRRI) should remain within their research-based mandate and stop aiding corruption while the National Assembly should understand that there is a need for a legal framework to avoid diversion,” Rafsanjani said.

However, another source said the fact that the projects were advertised in the national dailies, meant the due process was followed. “Many government agencies go beyond their mandates to solve problems. I am not saying the NBRRI has the mandate to go into constructing roads or providing boreholes. I am also not saying they don’t have the mandate,” said the source who wished to remain unnamed. 

We can’t stop lawmakers from domiciling constituency projects with us – NBRRI

The management of NBRRI said it cannot stop the National Assembly lawmakers from allocating their projects to them.

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NBRRI’s Chief Information Officer, Peter Mashem, said: “We have tried several times in the NASS to tell them that this is not within our mandate but they still tell you ‘look, it has been signed already; it is an appropriation.”

He explained that the lawmakers started bringing constituency projects to them when they started promoting some of their technologies by building skills acquisition centres in order to create awareness and promote their activities for people to know what they were doing.

“That promotion of these skills acquisition centres was what these lawmakers began to see and say we can take these to our constituencies; that was how we got involved in all these. So, technically, it is our mandate because we were doing promotion which is good for us also.

“But I can assure you that we do a lot of checking to ensure that the money is utilized and the projects reach conclusion; it is not as if they (lawmakers) use us here. We ensure that the projects get to 100 percent conclusion.

“We supervise and issue out the money; if you come and get the bid, we give you part of the money to start with and when you come back with pictures, we give you the second batch,” Mashem said.   

‘NASS not in a position to react’

When contacted, the Director of Information to the National Assembly, Agada Rawlings Emmanuel, said the matter falls within the purview of the political leadership who passed the bill to law.

“Accordingly, you can reach out to the spokesperson of the Senate for further necessary insights or at best, get to read through the Act, which is now a public document, and have a proper understanding of their mandates to draw necessary conclusions on the issues of your concerns.”

However, a senior official in the National Assembly, who preferred not to be named, said there was no relationship between the federal parliament and the execution of capital projects by government agencies except the constitutional role of oversight.

“The National Assembly has no business with any government agency’s capital projects other than oversight to ensure that Nigerians are not short-changed in whatever they do,” the official said.

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Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

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December 22, 2024

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Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

Segun Olowookere, a man who was sentenced to death for stealing fowls in Osun State when he was 17, has recounted how the police tortured and gave him a cutlass used as an exhibit against him as a minor in court.

FIJ had earlier reported that Governor Ademola Adeleke planned to pardon Olowookere after news of how Justice Sakariya Oyejide Falola sentenced Olowookere and Morakinyo Sunday to death in 2014 broke out.

Olowookere was charged in court with conspiracy, armed robbery and stealing. It was on these grounds that Falola delivered his judgment.

Olowookere and Sunday spent some days at a police station in Okuku before their arraignment and conviction. Olowookere said that the police gave them one cutlass each while at the station for weeding the premises.

However, the two of them were later transferred to Osogbo, the state capital, with the cutlasses. These cutlasses were later presented before the judge as exhibits of an armed robbery offence, Olowookere told The Punch in an interview on Sunday.

HOW HE WAS ARRESTED

Now in a custodial centre working with a medical team, Olowookere said he gave himself up for the arrest in November 2010.

“I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others,” he narrated.

“My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.

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“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”

THEY WERE GIVEN CUTLASSES

Olowookere recalled that the divisional police officer (DPO) heading the station at the time accused him of being a leader of an armed robbery gang consisting of teenage children.

Some days after his arrest, his parents were still making efforts to secure his bail. While this was ongoing, the police engaged them in labour, giving them a cutlass each to cut the grasses at the station.

“The DPO told me that one of the children confessed to stealing two broilers and some crates of eggs. I met the broilers and the eggs at the station,” he said.

“The children were eight in number. He told me the children said I was their gang leader, which I denied. The children he was talking about were around 12 and 13 years old, while I was 17 then. I told him I knew the children but I didn’t have anything to do with them other than greeting them in the community.

“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station, and he told the police that he didn’t know me nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not.

“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.

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“After some days, we were given cutlasses to cut the grass at the police station premises despite having injuries on every part of our body as a result of the torture.”

BAIL SUM BEYOND HIS PARENTS

Olowookere’s father was asked to produce N30,000 for his bail, but his father could only raise N20,000, and the police would not cut down this financial bail demand.

His father then left the station, perhaps to gather the shortfall of N10,000. Before his father could return, the police had ferried them to Osogbo.

“My father could only raise N20,000 out of the N30,000 they demanded. The police rejected it and insisted on the N30,000,” Olowookere said.

“My dad left the station to look for the money. But before he returned the following day, we had been moved to the SARS office in Osogbo. The cutlasses that were given to me and Morakinyo to cut the grass were presented to SARS as exhibits and they were told we were armed robbers.

“After 17 days in the SARS cell, we were taken to a magistrate court and charged with robbery, and from there to the High Court, where we were sentenced to death.”

The poultry farm from which they were alleged to have stolen fowls belonged to one of his uncles.

Despite initially promising not to pursue the case against him, the uncle went on to testify in court against him.

“We are from the same Ajerotutu Compound in Oyan. He was summoned to a family meeting where he said I was not among those who stole the fowls, but my name was mentioned by the children who were arrested,” Olowookere explained.

“He told the family that he would discontinue the case. But he later came to court to testify against me.

“I never wrote any statement to the police. My parents never had a flat, not to mention a six-bedroom flat. I lived with my parents until I was arrested.”

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Asked why his lawyer didn’t object to the statement during the trial, Olowookere said, “I didn’t know anything, but I am sure I didn’t write any statement.”

SUNDAY SUFFERS MENTAL ILLNESS

As a result of the torture they received at the police station before arraignment, Sunday began to bleed from several parts of his body.

Eventually, this bleeding led to his becoming mentally ill, according to Olowookere.

“He is now a mad person. He is at Ibara Prison. He developed mental issues when we were tortured at the police station in Okuku and by the officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad. I am just lucky, and I believe God’s grace is over me,” he said.

“Morakinyo was bleeding from the anus, ears, nose and on the head. The police did not treat him despite that. I cleaned the cell every day because his blood stained the floor. He was bleeding for the entire six days we spent inside the Okuku police cell before we were transferred to the SARS cell in Osogbo.

“We spent 17 days with SARS and Morakinyo bled every day. Some of the SARS officers noticed that he was not mentally normal again but others thought he was pretending, and from there, he developed full mental issues.

“When we were remanded at Ilesa Custodial Centre, the warders tried to manage his mental health but they didn’t have the capacity. His condition then worsened. As I am talking to you, he doesn’t recognise anybody again. His mother has stopped checking up on him.”

Olowookere said he was hopeful that he would regain his freedom someday to pursue his academic studies and become useful to the world.

“I first enrolled in Yewa College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, after my sentence. It is my dream to study medicine, but it is not available at a college of education. I was later transferred to a maximum prison in 2016. But due to financial constraints, I couldn’t study my dream course,” he explained.

“However, I was encouraged to train under the medical practitioners in the prison. So, I applied and I was accepted into the medical line in 2017. Since then, I have been working with the nurses, pharmacists and doctors inside the prison.

“I believe I will be free one day, and when I regain my freedom, I will definitely go for medicine. I pray to God to set me free because I am innocent.

“I don’t know anything about the crime I am convicted for. I pray to God to give me the opportunity to prove my innocence to the world and be useful to society. I am not a criminal; I have never stolen anything in my life, not to talk of robbing somebody.”

Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

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Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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December 22, 2024

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Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo)

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

Stakeholders under the Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) have alleged a well-coordinated international blackmail campaign against High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Chairman of Tantita Security Services; Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL); and Dr. Dennis Otuaro, Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

In a statement issued on Sunday by its President, Frank Ebikabo, and Secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN accused a cabal of oil thieves of sponsoring the campaign to undermine the successes of Tantita Security Services and other security outfits in combating oil theft.

The group specifically condemned a staged protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, describing it as a smear campaign filled with false criminal allegations against Tompolo, Kyari, and Otuaro.

The IYN called on the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and others entrusted with the nation’s security to ensure a thorough investigation of persons behind the blackmail and bring them to justice in the interest of national security.

The stakeholders also urged President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to be resolute in sustaining the reversal of the evils of oil theft against Nigeria and her citizens.

The IYN stressed that oil thieves and their operatives armed with billions of ill-gotten resources were funding the recurrent attacks on Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro.

The youths insisted that a virulent cabal of oil thieves with a vast network across international boundaries was on the  rampage to orchestrate the campaign targeting the economy of the country and its leadership.

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The IYN said that the oil thieves were pooling resources together with their international collaborators to undermine the President, national security and the nation’s economy.

The group said that it was not unexpected that the deadly cabal that almost ruined the economy of the country by stealing billions of petro dollars would not give up their lucrative crime without a fight.

The IYN said that the achievement of the Tinubu Administration which had been able to attain 1.8m barrels of crude oil per day, after serious efforts into the battle against oil thieves should be protected from such influential, deadly gang.

The IYN added some of those fighting Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro were persons, who pressed to be appointed Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme without success.

The Ijaw youths groups said that the antecedents of Otuaro and his capacity to deepen consultations and sustenance of peace in the Niger Delta might be hurting those behind the campaign of calumny in the region.

The group called on all sister organizations in the Niger Delta to support the campaign against oil theft, Tantita Security Service Limited, the NNPCL and the PAP leadership.

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The group said: “We are shocked at the extent to which this deadly cabal of oil thieves can go to orchestrate a campaign of calumny against hardworking people carrying out their lawful responsibilities in the Niger Delta.

“Of course, nobody expects a group of extremely wealthy, connected and influential people who has been involved in oil theft, stealing billions for years to go away without resistance.

“The show of shame in front of the UN headquarters is a most reprehensible attack on the country image, the President, national security and our economy.

“The unpatriotic characters are conniving with enemies of Nigeria in their criminal bid to bring back the dark days of oil theft and its impact on the nation’s economy.

“We call on the President, to be firm in sustaining what is good for Nigeria. Tompolo, and Tantita have shown that it is not impossible to stop the menace of oil theft as shown by the daily production of oil to 1.8 million barrels per day,

“We also urge the Mr Kyari and Dr Otuaro to be firm in carrying out their official responsibilities to this great country. That oil thieves are focusing attacks on the, shows in clear terms that their actions are suffocating their evil activities in the region.”

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution 

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December 22, 2024

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NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution 

 

The General Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi, has enjoined Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of peace, love and compassion as taught through the birth of Jesus Christ.

He stated this in his Christmas and end of the year goodwill message to felicitate members of the union and Nigerians in general.

Agbeyangi urged Nigerians to use the festive season to reflect on the values of love, compassion, and sacrifice that Jesus Christ embodied.

“This period is not for merry making alone; we should also spare time to reflect on the birth and life of Jesus Christ.

“His birth teaches humility, love compassion and sacrifice. As Nigerians, we must show love to our fellow county men. We must love our country. As Nigerians, we must be ready to make sacrifices for the nation.”

The NURTW scribe also used the opportunity to appeal to members of the union and other road users to always exercise caution and adhere to all safety protocols while travelling during the festive season.

“As we celebrate, let us not forget the importance of road safety. The roads can be treacherous, especially during the festive season.

“I urge our members and all road users to drive safely, avoid overspending, overtaking at dangerous bends and overloading, and be courteous to other road users,” he stated.

He also advised drivers that all their vehicle papers should be up to date to avoid embarrassment from law enforcement officers on the highways.

Comrade Agbeyangi prayed for a peaceful and joyous celebration, and wished members of the union and Nigerians, a happy prosperous New Year.

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