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By Bolatsi Dudu
Since the Kachikwu vs. Baru soap opera began, I have been laughing. Until a few minutes ago, the matter was the topic of a radio discussion on 99.3 FM (Nigerian Info). As is usual in the Nigerian society, most of the discussants who phoned in played to the gallery.
The tragedy of Nigeria nowadays is that some of the so called educated elite – usually the more vocal segment of the class these days – bamboozle the ordinary people with falsehood in both the secular and non secular realms. In the church, they interpret the Bible to rob the poor! Outside the church, they foment crisis from which themselves and their class alone benefit whilst the poor become poorer.
In my usual style of addressing every issue on its merits, I have, by my commentary early on, set out to educate those who aren’t conversant with the law on the subject matter. And they are legion.
Since the enactment of the Public Procurement Act (2007), things have changed a great deal at the Federal level to the extent that operating as a politician in Abuja, for instance, is very different than operating as a politician in a state, for example, Delta State.
I became siesed of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act on becoming the member representing the South South geo political zone on the 3rd governing board of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in 2009. As a Board, we had nothing to do with contract award. We met the law which was enacted during President Obasanjo’s administration. So, as law abiding citizens we let the Management headed by the Managing Director be.
Since the coming into effect of the PPA, the situation at the Federal level can be described as, BOARD AND MANAGEMENT DEY WORK, ONLY MANAGEMENT DEY CHOP! The Board and the Management do the work together and the MD/CEO ends up with both the YAM and the KNIFE. If MD like, him go say “Monkey come take small banana. It got to a point where one of my colleagues on the Board representing one of the zones exclaimed at a Board meeting in the now famous words, “WHY ARE WE HERE?”.
The Honourable Minister of State, Petroleum (HMOSP) is a lawyer. Can he claim not to know the position of the law? A Minister of State has his schedule of duty which may not include presiding over the Ministerial Tenders Board and he’s not statutorily a member of the Ministerial Tenders Board. Power play – as is common the world over – can, according to a learned colleague of mine, make the preceding even more dynamic and corrosive. Another learned brother of mine describes the scenario as VOODOO CORPORATE GOVERNANCE NIGERIAN EDITION. He wonders what the statutory responsibilities of a Honourable Minister of State should be if he cannot seat at the all important Ministerial Tenders Board.
All said, I pity Mr. Ibe Kachikwu. I think with all his Harvard education, he played himself far too long in offside position. Period! If he has genuine grievances that need looking into, okay. He should sort them out with his boss, Mr. President. But, I’m disappointed by his outburst over contract award in respect of which the law is, in my opinion, TRITE. The moment he ceased to be GMD of NNPC he should have come to terms with his new status: as far as contract award was concerned, he had become SIDON LOOK!!! ???
Did I hear some one say “WHY ARE WE HERE?” ???
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