Govt Officials Accused of Sabotaging Tinubu

Centre for Social Justice Advocacy (CSJA) has levelled allegation of sabotaging the programmes and policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration against some unnamed government officials. CSJA made the accusation in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Abubakar Garba Abdulrahman, in which it alleged plot to award over N60bn worth of capital project contracts […]

Centre for Social Justice Advocacy (CSJA) has levelled allegation of sabotaging the programmes and policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration against some unnamed government officials.

CSJA made the accusation in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Abubakar Garba Abdulrahman, in which it alleged plot to award over N60bn worth of capital project contracts under the table in violation of the public procurement act 2007 in Rural Electrification Agency, REA.

It claimed that N170bn is allocated to REA in 2024 budget for series of projects, saying there have been intrigues by some officials within and outside REA scheming to shun open tendering for selective tendering on a large scale.

“Initially, the plan was to advertise tender for only one-tenth of the total contracts with the view of doing the rest by selective tender, which would favour selfish government officials and their cronies materially.

“It informed why on May 27 only an insignificant percent of the jobs were advertised in national newspapers. The plotters’ albatross was the opposition particularly from the acting Managing Director of the agency, Abba Abubakar Aliyu that enabled a change, resulting in another advertisement of jobs on July 22, 2024,” the statement read.

The civil society organisation further alleged that there’s no plan to make public a significant portion of the jobs in the shape of tender advertisement.

“They are determined to do the rest, over N60bn worth of jobs, by selective tendering to favour themselves and cronies, shortchange the federal government and the nation because of their vested interests.

“Where is the need for selective tendering since there’s no emergency? Why is the tender advertisement done in piecemeal? We consider the subterranean plan as one of the shenanigans by government officials that are putting the programmes and policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in harm’s way, bringing more people into poverty and causing biting hardship.

“It’s controversial that open competitive bidding would save the country money, minimise corruption, and put monies in the pockets of many, instead of the privileged few that benefit from selective tendering,” Abdulrahman wrote.