Investigation by Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, Alltimepost.com Special Correspondent in Nigeria
This investigation reveals discrepancies and inconsistencies with the award of many contracts in Edo state, highlighting flagrant disregard for Procurement laws, leading to issues of accountability and transparency, poor information management and outright dishonesty in the conduct of governance in Edo State.
According to documents obtained from the website of the Edo Public Procurement Agency (EDPPA), the Godwin Obaseki administration awarded a contract for the “Retrofitting and Completion works on Airport Road Street Lights (Ring Road to Ogba Zoo) on the 14th of February, 2020.”
The documents obtained indicated that the Edo state government placed an advert with the Vanguard newspapers of October 28, 2019, for interested contractors to apply to an open competitive bidding.
At the end of the bidding process, Atiode Solar Systems Limited, located at 48 Igbesamwan Street, off Akpakpava Road was published on the EDPPA website as the bid winner. The company was purportedly awarded two contracts.
According to those documents, the Edo State Government also gave Atiode Solar Systems Limited the nod to carry out Installation of Street Lights on Adesogbe -TV Road to Five Junction in Benin City.
The first contract on the Airport Road, with the newly created Ministry of Energy and Electricity as procuring entity, has Certificate reference number EDPPA/069/Vol.2/361 with a contract sum of N22, 567,025.25.
The second contract purportedly awarded to Atiode Solar Systems Limited by the Edo State government was for the installation of Street lights on the Adesogbe -TV Road to Five Junction with Certificate reference number EDPPA/069/Vol.2/361 and under the same procuring entity as the Airport road.
It has a contract sum of N21, 246, 305.06. The Edo Government documents at the EDPPA indicated that this bid was also advertised with the Vanguard newspaper of October 28, 2019.
Even though the contract was apparently awarded in 2020, there is no evidence on ground to show that the project is being executed from the beginning of this investigation in March 2021.
The TV Road leads from the NTA station in Benin City to Ugbowo and Adesogbe where it terminates at the Oba of Benin Palace into the Airport Road. Apart from the Palace where Solar Street lights have been erected by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in 2020, that long stretch of road with churches, a public school, many small and medium scale businesses, a shopping mall and the Benin City NTA Station, the road is always in the dark after dusk.
A resident, Osaro Omogiate (not real name) who has a furniture workshop asks our reporter, “Oga are you new here…we no dey get light not to talk of street light.” He claims crime is rife here, and because of that most of the businesses on that road quickly shut down by dusk.
Most business and corporate institutions on the Airport Road also claim crime is rife. From the airport towards the Zoo, residents and visitors are often mugged, robbed and attacked. They say the road has become a red spot and a rendezvous for criminals, prostitutes, robbers and burglars.
Representatives of Classe Alta, a leading hotel on that road told us that there has been a reduction in patronage. “Our customers are afraid to go out at night and nobody is interested in coming here at night. Those that brave it have been robbed and mugged. Once it is 7:30pm this place gets very deserted,” the representative who declined to give his name said.
Others that have not left their businesses and endeavor to the dark include Sabicare Pharmacy and the Oasis of Fulfilment Church. The Pharmacist on duty who was unwilling to tell us his name as well said the Sabicare Pharmacy erected its own Solar-powered street light to encourage customers to continue to patronize it, and help reduce crime.
Prevailing darkness on this road presents other kinds of challenges for the teeming members of the Oasis of Fulfilment Church just by the NNPC Filing station. Most who live at nearby suburbs like Irhirhi and Ulemon are unable to attend regular night vigils because for fear.
“Because our vigils usually end by 3am, our members spend the rest of the night in the church, under Police guard,” Felix Omokaro, senior Pastor of the Oasis Church told our correspondent.
Pastor Omokaro also recounted an experience he said he had with a victim who was trailed to the darkest point on the Airport Road and robbed. “They took away his ATM and phone. By the time they were done with the victim, even his palm sandals were gone. I had to give him a lift to a safe place and put something in his pocket for him to get home,” Pastor Omokaro said.
Mr. Alli Sanusi, a transporter who has plied the airport road for ten years, is a father of three. He told this reporter that under the Adams Oshiomhole administration, there were regular repairs and maintenance of the street lighting system, together with fixing broken light bulbs and monitoring of the traffic lights on the road.
“But as soon as the Obaseki administration assumed office, we noticed that the government removed the two power generating sets and the transformer provided by the Oshiomhole for the street lights on the Airport Road in Benin City. They took away the one on Sapele Road as well. Why?” Mr. Sanusi asked.
Through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request of March 25, 2021, we asked Bar Osarodion Ogie, current secretary to the Obaseki administration, who was commissioner of works in the Oshiomhole administration for clarification on why the transformers and generators were allegedly taken away by government officials.
We asked him about the Atiode contract as well. The secretary did not respond to our FOI request.
If relevant government officials are mum, the governor is not. In a recent town hall meeting held with Edo transition committee members and the state’s stakeholders from across the world via zoom, the governor said that there are plans to connect residential areas and 70km street lights to a 55mw CCETC-Ossiomo power plant in Benin City for supply of 24-hour electricity.
“Ossiomo power is on. It is what is being used in government house. We are trying to create an electricity commission with laws that will allow them to sell to people outside of the state government facilities…we have a project to put about 70km of street lights around Benin city. The contractors are working on that…” Mr. Obaseki was quoted as saying during the recent zoom meeting.
Also contacted was Atiode Solar Systems, cited on the EDPPA website as being awarded the contract for the retrofitting of the street lights on the Airport Road, to submit an FOI Request seeking details of the contract for the retrofitting of the Airport.
As part of our request, we wanted to know if Atiode has been paid any monies as mobilization towards the retrofitting contract on the Airport Road. When a written response was not received, a phone call was placed to the company.
In the phone response, Mr. Fred Atiomo, CEO of Atiode Solar Systems said: “Yes, we received your FOI Request and decided not to respond to it. How do we respond to an FOI on a contract that we were never awarded?
“We heard about a contract ‘awarded’ to us from your FOI request. Listen, Atiode was never awarded a contract for retrofitting of the Street Lights on the Airport Road, and therefore, we cannot be mobilized for a contract that was not awarded to us in the first place.”
If Atiode Solar Systems claim that they have not been awarded the contract for the retrofitting of street lights on the airport road in Benin City, who then was awarded the contract (in spite of the fact that government documents indicate it awarded Atiode the contract)?
In course of this investigation, we again called Mr. Osarodion Ogie, Secretary to the Edo State government. Again, he did not respond to our calls. After the re-election of Godwin Obaseki for a second term in 2020, the governor has not appointed commissioners and special assistants or a spokesperson or a media representative. The machine of governance in Edo state is manned by three individuals – the governor, his deputy, and the secretary to government, Mr. Osarodion Ogie.
In another letter of 26th March 2021, we made FOI requests to the Managing Director of the Edo State Public Procurement Agency, EDPPA, to ascertain that Atiode indeed got the contract for the retrofitting of street lights on the airport road in Benin City.
Responding to our FOI, EDPPA said that it was merely a regulatory body, and that the Procurement Entity responsible for processing bids for contracts for the Edo State government was the newly created Ministry of Energy and Electricity.
But did Atiode participate in a bid process for an award of a contract through an open competitive bidding said to have been advertised in the Vanguard newspaper of October 28, 2019?
How many bidders participated and did Atiode meet the requirements as specified in the Edo State Procurement law of 2012, before the Edo state government ‘awarded’ it the contract?
When we reached Mr. Atiomo again to find out if he responded to an advert in the newspapers, he declined to make any comment further, insisting that those who have that information are the Ministry of Energy and Electricity, and the EDPPA.
The purported contract ‘award’ to Atiode Solar systems appears a contradiction of the provisions of the Edo State Public Procurement Act 2012. This is because the Public Procurement Agency said that the state government made an advertisement of the Retrofitting bid for the airport road with the Vanguard Newspaper of 28 October, 2019.
A check on the said publication could not find the said bid advert with the Vanguard newspaper of 28th October, 2019 on that date. The only adverts on the Vanguard newspaper on that date are those of Access Bank (page 3), the NIMC (page 9), a classified advert (page 11), Palm Kernel Merchants Association (13), a Caveat Emptor (page 14), Uzere Clan Headquarters (page 17), a make a return on Investment advert (page 22), Nichem VIP, Enugu State Government Water Corporation EOI and National Conference of Directors (page 24), Access Bank (pages 26-28), Leventis Notice Shareholders (pages 32 – 33), NICON Trustees Open Letter (page 33), Baywood Disclaimer (page 35), Tony Anenih Remembrances (pages 39-40), Tony Anenih Remembrance (page 45, 46 & 47).
Apart from the said advert for the retrofitting of the Street lights on the Airport Road, other bids purportedly advertised on that same day with the Vanguard newspaper of October 28, 2019 include Retrofitting and Refurbishment of Street Lights on Akpakpava (Ring Road to Ramat Park awarded to Joyak Janaiva Nigeria Limited at N17, 184, 268.5; Retrofitting works on Sapele Road Street Lights (Ring Road to 3rd Junction) awarded to Atiode Solar Systems Limited for N22,706,937.75; Installation of Street Lights on Adesogbe-TV Road to Five Junction awarded to Atiode Solar Systems Limited at N21, 246, 305.06; Retrofitting and Installation of Street Lights on Benin-Lagos Road (Uselu to Uniben) awarded to Anjez Limited at N17, 737, 461; Installation of Street Lights on 1.28km Akenzua Road, (Adesogbe-Akenzua Junction to Airport Road) awarded to Yonsus Global Ventures Limited at N27, 118, 271.25; Retrofitting/Refurbishment of Street Lights on Siluko Road (Siluko Road to Use Market) awarded to Joyak Janaiva Nigeria Limited at N21, 444, 496.5.
To ascertain that the date for the advert, October 28, 2019, may have been mistaken, we contacted the two agencies again – the Ministry of Energy and Electricity, and Mr. Henry Idogun, managing director/CEO of the Edo State Public Procurement Agency, EDPPA for clarifications.
We received a response from the EDPPA concerning their purported publication of October 28, 2019. In a letter dated 19th May, 2021, the EDPA said that the publication date published on their website was ‘an inadvertent error’.
“The advert was actually made on page 28 of Vanguard newspaper of Monday 7th 2019,” part of the letter read.
A spokesperson for the EDPPA denied ever awarding any contract to Atiode Solar Systems. “What happened was that Atiode complied with 70% – 90% of the requirements needed for an award, and since we are a regulatory body, we published their name and issued them a certificate of compliance.
“What should have come next was the approval for the contract, and the approving authority is the governor. If there was going to be any cancellation of the certificate after it has been issued and offered to another contractor, the procuring entity tells us about it, and then we update our records,” the spokesperson said.
But an official of the Energy and Electricity who refused to tell us his name, citing confidentiality for civil servants, confirmed that even though a bid for a contract was advertised in a newspaper, purported contract to Atiode Solar Systems Limited was cancelled for ‘technical reasons’ and has been re-awarded to another company, Brossette Nigeria Limited, on May 4, 2021.
According to this official, the advert for the bid was advertised with the Nigerian Observer of October 7, 2019 IFT No: MOEE/ED/2019/SPN05 (cited by this reporter), and not with the Vanguard newspaper of October 28, 2019 as published by the EDPPA.
While the title of the purported Vanguard publication of October 28, 2019 is Retrofitting and Completion works on Airport Road Street Lights (Ring Road to Ogba Zoo), that of the Nigerian Observer of October 7, 2019 had a different title, “Installation /Erection of Street lights, transformers and Civil works on Ring Road to Ogba Zoo (Airport Road) inner and outer Ring Road.”
According to the government official, the contract that was awarded to the new company, Brossette Nigeria Limited was based on the newspaper advert of October 7, 2019 with the Nigerian Observer, and with respect to other ‘technical considerations’.
He did not specify what the ‘technical considerations’ are and did not say what the contract fee is or the timeline for the completion of the contract.
Other government sources told this investigation that sometime in August 2020, vandals began to vandalize transformers and generators positioned at strategic points within the city, including that of the airport road.
“We had to move quickly and began to remove all of them, and especially because there are already plans to award a contract for a major rehab of the street lights in the entire city. The ones we removed are at the premises of the ministry of infrastructure on Sapele Road.
“With the award of a new contract, and within three months from this month, there will be light all over Benin City and Edo state,” this source said. Even though this reporter was unable to verify the claims that transformers and solar power generators were indeed vandalized, we visited the Ministry of Infrastructure in Benin and found most of the alleged vandalized generators and transformers stacked on the premises of the Infrastructure ministry.
At the last minute, our source baulked from providing photos of these allegedly vandalized transformers and solar power generators.
Questions: why is the Obaseki administration constructing a new set of street lights on the Airport Road when his predecessor had allegedly spent some N13billion rehabilitating and erecting street lights on that same road?
If the contract had recently been awarded to another company apart from Atiode, why has the government agency not updated its website to reflect the recent development?
Why did it say that it made an advert with Vanguard newspaper of October 28, 2019 when it seemingly did not? Why are there different titles on the adverts that were made for the award of street lights on the Airport Road?
Furthermore, the Procurement Entity, in this case the Edo State Ministry of Energy and Electricity has not specified what kind of street lights are to be fitted on the Airport Road after N13billion had been allegedly spent on the same project.
In particular, why were the contracts for Street lights at the Airport, Sapele Road, Akpakpava Street, Oba Market Road, Benin-Lagos Uselu Road cancelled and thereafter awarded to Brossette Nigeria Limited?
Was there a bidding process? How many companies bid for the contract? What is the contract sum? What relevant section of the Edo State Public Procurement Law guided the Edo State government to ‘technically consider’ awarding this contract to Brossette Nigeria Limited?
Under Section 19 of the PPA Law, ‘Procurement Implementation’, the procuring entity is expected to implement its procurement plans inter alia by “inviting an observer, at least a non-government organisation working in transparency, accountability and anti-corruption areas at bid opening…”
Since this investigation is about a contract for the award of solar street lights, we included an investigation on prices for solar street lights. We found out that there are many kinds of Solar Street lights in the market with various price tags.
There are those with different battery power, dimension, efficiency, strength of materials and etcetera. To get a durable model, we contacted the Yangzhou Bright Solar Solutions in China. After a thorough assessment of our needs, the Solar Company recommended an “All-in-One Integrated Solar Street light Model BR-AIO30W.”
According to data supplied by this company, this model has a lifetime of 25 years, battery life of between 8-10 years, a working time of 12 hours per night and a charge time of 6 -7 hours.
Its main material is aluminum alloy, and costs either $228USD per PC (about N70, 000.00). For a 6 kilometre road like the Airport Road, about 334 of those PC will be needed with installation time just over a two-week period.
According to a Solar Services Provider, SSP, EnGoPlanet Solar Street lights, solar street lights can cost anywhere from $1,850.00 to $5,000.00 depending on the needs of the system. They say that installation is very simple and affordable.
Since it is not connected to the grid, it does not require expensive and long construction works. Initial investment, according to the company saves 25 years of electrical costs and doesn’t require difficult and costly installation.
Another question would be: was the contract sum made to the new company it awarded the Airport road contract to (Brossette Nigeria Limited) made against the specification of a Solar Street light with lifetime of 25 years, battery life of between 8-10 years, a working time of 12 hours per night, charge time of 6-7 hours?
Yet, contrary to information from our government source, Brossette Nigeria Limited did not get the award from responding to the Nigerian Observer advert of October 7, 2019, or by meeting any of the conditions stipulated by both adverts of October 7, 2019 in the Vanguard or The Nigerian Observer.
Mr. Mario, General Manager of Brossette Nigeria Limited said that his company was ‘nominated’ by the Edo state government to execute a contract entered into on 4th May, 2021. When we asked him to tell us the contract sum, timeline for the execution of the contract and title of the contract, Mr. Mario declined, citing a confidentiality clause in his contract with the Edo state government.
Brossette Nigeria Limited is a Lagos-based company. It is a sister company to Ro Marong, a company founded in 1983 in Sierra Leone by Maged Bahson to handle print and soft packaging.
It does not have branches all over Nigeria as earlier claimed by the government source. It claims that it “specializes in producing pre-engineered steel homes and structures that can be assembled for accommodation, office building, warehouse, portable cabin, roof trusses.”
It also claims to have completed over 1500 projects and has ISO certification. It has not listed Edo State as one of its clients.
Benin City is the capital of Edo state. The state, popularly known as the heartbeat of Nigeria has a GDP of 11.9billion with a per capita of $3,623. Unemployment rate, according to the National Bureau of Statistics is 25.1 per cent. It has a population of about 5 million people with a population density per square kilometer of 220.75.
The people are literate and affairs of state are run by Godwin Obaseki as governor. Even though Benin City boasts of tourist attractions and historical landmarks like The Royal Oba’s Palace, Benin National Museum, The Benin Moat, Okomu National Park, Amahor Waterside, Lampese Crocodile Lake, Igun-Eronmwon quarters/igun street, the Oba Market, New Benin Market and Agbado Market, the poorly-lit streets is bad for night economy and exposes residents and visitors as targets of criminals.
