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The planned award of a $2.317 billion gas pipeline contract from the North-Central to North-West by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is causing ripples among some stakeholders in the oil sector.
The project is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts of Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) Gas Pipeline.
There are fears that “a well connected” consortium has already being picked to get the contract without due process.
As a matter of fact, one of the concerned stakeholders has sent a strong-worded petition to President Muhammadu Buhari “to ensure that the right thing is done in the award of the contract”.
Another group had also approached the National Assembly to carry out its oversight function and wade into the matter “in the interest of fair play, justice and transparency”.
A search light is already beamed on the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) whose responsibility it is to ensure that the bidding was carried out in a transparent manner with advertisement and publications carried out in government tenders journal.
A source alleged that the NNPC plans to award the contract “under the table”, shutting out other serious contractors/bidders.
He said: “The issue is that even when the BPP is seen as fulfilling all righteousness by advertising and publishing tenders, the contract will be awarded to a particular consortium. It is in the interest of everybody that the best is allowed to do this job, not a group with no experience and expertise”.
Already, NNPC had sought, in a letter to BPP, a Certificate of No Objection to enable it obtain the approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the construction of the gas pipeline.
To some stakeholders and bidders, this move by the NNPC “is suspect” and may affect the process of awarding the contract during the tender, bidding and pre-qualification stages.