House C’ttee on Public Procurement Visits NPA on Oversight Function

Members of the Public Procurement Committee of the House of Representatives yesterday paid a visit to the headquarters of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) in Lagos.

The visit was part of the oversight functions of the committee in order to ensure transparency in the activities of the maritime authority.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Oluwole Oke, was accompanied by other members of the committee, which included Hon. Nasiru Garo, Hon. Kako Are, Hon. Gabriel Africa Onyenwife, Hon. Diri Douye, Hon. Mayowa Akinnifemi, Hon. Solomon Maren, Hon. Ibrahim Abdulahi Dutse, Hon. Nicolas Osai Osai, Hon. Mohammed Nur Sheriff, and Assistant Clerk, Mrs Funsho Babalola. They were received by the Executive Director of NPA, Dr. Dans Solwate, and his team.

Oke, during the meeting, noted that the mission of the oversight function was to improve the system by educating the authorities so as not to fall victim to any act of wrongdoing

According to him, “the executive arm of government perceives the legislature as an enemy, whereas, we need synergy between the two arms to strengthen the agencies in adhering to the rule of law.”

However, members of the committee could not hide their dismay as the NPA management appeared not to be ready for the meeting despite the committee’s early notice of the visit.

The meeting, which was supposed to take place at the National Assembly, was shifted to Lagos because of NPA’s ap- peal that their procurement records were rather voluminous and would require a chartered aircraft to be conveyed to the National Assembly.

The first case ever deter- mined on interpretation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007 stemmed from the activities of NPA, which led to the conviction of Chief Olabode George and six others.

Since the NPA representatives were not ready, one of the committee members moved a motion for adjournment and to reconvene on Tuesday, May 30.