Ekiti govt responds to Dataphyte’s investigation exposing contract corruption

The Ekiti State’s Bureau of Public Procurement has reacted to Dataphyte’s investigation exposing bad contractual practices in its award of contracts running into millions of naira.

The response signed by the Bureau’s Director-General, Mr O’Seun Odewale, said Dataphyte’s publication sought to castigate the administration of the former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, noting that the details in the story were untrue.

“Nothing could be more specious. Specific to the various allegations raised in the publication, we present below what we believe to be the true and factual information as available within the records of our agency,” the statement said. 

The Ekiti State BPP claimed that Qualum Building Products, which was awarded contracts worth N16.69 million, was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

“Our records show that this entity was registered with the CAC on 7th October 2003 as a Business Name with registration number IBZ024009 with a business address situated at No. 69, Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti with one Olubisi Adeleke as the proprietor. During the bidding process for this contract award, all requisite documents were provided and sighted as can be confirmed from packages 354, 357 and 465 of the bids submitted to SUBEB. BPP records also confirm that the entity is duly registered as a vendor with the State procurement agency.”

As at the time of investigating this company, Dataphyte did not find Qualum Building Products on the database of the CAC after repeated attempts. However, the name of this company is currently on the database of the CAC.

A search on the Corporate affairs commission public search portal proves this

Secondly, a CAC agent told Dataphyte upon inquiry that she could not confirm the registration number (IBZ024009) of Qualum Building Products, which was presented by Ekiti State government as evidence of the company’s existence on the CAC database.

Agent1007 of the CAC said that if it the company was registered with “IBZ”, it would be an old CAC business number, noting that it needed updating and revalidation before it could be used for legal activities or to file annual returns.

In another response, the Ekiti bureau claimed that another organisation flagged in the report, Bolmul Ventures, is a registered organisation with the CAC, as against findings by Dataphyte.

“Our records show that Bolmul Ventures was registered with CAC on 25th April 1995 as a Business Name with registration number 924765 with a business address situated at No. 3, Iworoko Road, Ado-Ekiti with one Oladejo Bakare Bolarinwa as the proprietor. All requisite documents were also provided and sighted as can be confirmed in package number 22 submitted to SUBEB. BPP records also confirm that the entity is duly registered as a vendor with the State procurement agency.” the Bureau noted.

The Ekiti BPP then went ahead to produce a document to back up its claims.

However, Dataphyte checks further show that the organisation is still not on the CAC’s database as a registered entity.

Currently, the certificate number (924765) on the CAC document produced by the Ekiti State BPP in defence of Bolmul Ventures belongs to another organisation, Consij Integrated Services Limited, registered in 2010 and based in Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The CAC also confirmed to Dataphyte that it was impossible for two organisations to own the same registration number. When the CAC agent checked, she confirmed that the registration number belongs to Consij Integrated Services Limited only, not Bolmul Ventures.

The CAC also told Dataphyte that while the organisation or the business number did not exist on its database, it would need to be validated and renewed before it could be used for legal activities.

Dataphyte sought the contact of these companies’ directors from Ekiti State BPP but the DG, Mr O’Seun Odewale, said that it was against the bureau’s data management ethics to provide such.

The Ekiti State BPP equally claimed that Finders Global National Publishers, which was listed as winner of a contract but not found on the CAC portal, is a case of ‘spelling error”  

“This is a contract that predated the establishment of the procurement portal in Ekiti State. After review of available records with specific details, it was clear that the correct name of the company is “Pathfinders Global Educational Publishers” which is not only duly registered with CAC but also with BPP Ekiti State. This information has since been updated in accordance with our file records.”

It is unclear why this particular contract for printing question papers and objective answer sheets awarded to Finders Global National publisher and flagged by Dataphyte cannot be found on Ekiti State OCDS portal, after Ekiti BPP claimed it had updated it.

Pathfinders Global Educational Publishers is inactive on the CAC portal. An organisation becomes inactive when it fails to file its annual report for 18 months. The BPP law of Ekiti puts priority on filing necessary taxes and returns by organisations that win contracts.

The BPP further noted that the three companies that registered with CAC the same day and got contracts three months after are duly registered with the CAC, noting that they were women-led businesses.

“The Bureau has confirmed that these companies are duly registered with the CAC and also registered with the Bureau as Category B vendors which is consistent with the values of the quoted contracts award to each. The entities are registered as Women-Owned Business outfits in the State. These entities might not have any years of experience but there is evidence of qualified staff submitted in the management staff of the outfits. These qualifications are considered satisfactory judging from the low value of contracts awarded to each of them. It should be state that the number of years of a company’s registration does not confer on it “years of experience”. 

“Also, in accord with ongoing procurement reform programmes in the State, experience or the number of years of registration sometimes are not the deciding factors for contract consideration and/or award. As a matter of fact, there are companies with many years of experience but do not have the required technical skills, professional staff and/or not financially viable which may, or may not, be due to internal changes and challenges in such an establishment. It should be noted that BPP in Ekiti advisedly promotes affirmative actions, consistent with procurement laws, guidelines and practice—to enable companies which may have newly registered and strive to gradually build the profile required for large contracts. This aligns with government’s economic agenda in Ekiti State to build local capacity. To be sure, the value of contracts awarded to these entities remains within the scope of their documented profiles. It is also important to add that all these entities have reportedly completed their contracts to the satisfaction of the procuring entity and public users.”

The BPP further said that business names were not necessarily the deciding consideration for award of contracts.

The Bureau made this claim in respect of Yemiade Fashion Home Nigeria Enterprises, which is a fashion outfit but got a latrine contract.

“We aver that the names used to register a business name are not necessarily the deciding consideration for the kind of contracts a company can bid for or be awarded by a government. Part of the prerequisite, which are announced during the contract advertisement, include documentations of the official status of the company, professional staff, managerial strength, experience in similar work/service, business location, financial viability, as well as the years and records of experience depending on the category of the contract being applied for. If the entity presents evidence of capacity to supervise the construction of a latrine, we deem it okay that they be considered with other bidders in the process.”

 The claim of Ekiti BPP, however, negates its own law.

That an organisation registered as a fashion house can win a contract for latrine construction negates Ekiti State BPP law, which states;

“All bidders in addition to requirements contained in any solicitation documents shall:  possess the necessary: professional and technical qualifications to carry out particular procurements, financial capability 13 Ekiti State Public Procurement Law E.K.S No. 2 of 2010 and equipment and other relevant infrastructure.” 

Latrine construction is not a fashion business and raises keen questions as to why the firm dealing in clothes would claim to construct latrines.

The statement by the BPP reads more;

“Further to above, we wish to state that the acclaim which has greeted this orchestrated publication is rather unfortunate. It was indeed apparent from many of the readers/commentators that they ran away with the screaming headline and did not deem it fit to read the actual story. It is further unfortunate, if not mischievous, to ascribe the award of these contracts, whether remotely or closely to the person of former Governor Fayemi when in actual fact he has no role to play in the procurement process for these contracts.”

“We contend that Dataphyte, which claims to be an investigative media outfit, did not carry out any investigation beyond a cursory review of our OCDS portal on which we have dutifully proactively published all contracts awarded in Ekiti since the administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi. It should be illogical to think that the same Dr. Fayemi who actively supported institutionalisation and implementation of procurement reforms will now turn around to violate the law.”

Procurement in Ekiti State was established by Ekiti State Public Procurement Re-Enactment Law No. 4 of 2020, which spells out the regulatory mandate of the BPP. The state’s BPP has advanced the procurement practices in Nigeria and continues to welcome active citizens’ oversight on its operations.

However, some its claims are not in line with Dataphyte findings as encapsulated in our report, “How Ekiti govt awarded millions of naira contracts to non-existent firms.”

Dataphyte refutes the claims of a witch-hunt as claimed by the Ekiti State BPP, as all investigative pieces by the organisation are evidence-based and aligns with the tenets of investigative journalism.