The contractors,
including 13 companies that supplied Peugeot 508 Special edition for the use of
the members of the House and 13 Hilux vans, are threatening legal action if
their bills are not settled within a week.
Nine of the
companies supplied 132 Peugeot vehicles, two supplied 18 units of Toyota Hilux
van while two others supplied office equipment. They have now given the
National Assembly seven days to either pay them or face legal action.
A letter of demand
from the legal firm, Otaru Otaru & Co, which has already been received by
the office of the clerk to the National Assembly, states that the nine
companies supplied 132 units of Peugeot 508, 2017 Executive Edition at N25.5
million each, totalling N3.4 billion; two of them supplied 18 units of Toyota
Hilux (4ws Dc pss 2.7 litrs, Shell Spec, 5 Speed, 2017 Model, Japan) at the
cost of N31.2 million each, totalling N561.6 million while two others supplied
office equipment at the total cost of N211.2 million.
The documents seen
by PREMIUM TIMES show that Three Brothers Concept Nigeria Limited supplied 50
Peugeot vehicles at N25.5 million each and was expecting to be paid N1.28
billion. The lawyers said the company has so far only received N400 million,
leaving a balance of over N875 million.
Apart from the
outstanding balance, Three Brothers Concept is also asking the National
Assembly to pay “ the sum of One Hundred Million Naira only being general
damages for breach of contract. 21% prejudgment interest on the unpaid sum of
N875,750,000” as well as a “10% post judgment interest n the unpaid sum”.
Another company,
Bunkari Motors Nigeria Limited, which said it supplied 42 units of Peugeot 508
at the same price as Three Brothers, was expecting a total payment of N1.07
billion but said it only received N15 million only, leaving a balance of N1.06
billion.
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Like Three Brothers,
Bunkari Motors is also making the same demand for payment of damages as well as
interests.
Another company,
Aira Integrated Resources Limited, supplied 10 units of Peugeot vehicles at the
same price and was expecting payment of N255.2 million. However, unlike the
other two companies, the documents revealed that Aira received N9.05 million
each in three instalments on June 14, September 5 and November 30, 2018.
The firm also got
N4.5 million twice, on February 1 and April 17, 2019, totalling N36.5 million
and “leaving a balance of N218,599,524.93.”
Six other companies
supplied five units of Peugeot vehicles each at the same contract price and
they were expecting to be paid N127.6 million each. The companies are Kaneen-G
ventures Limited, Zipson Ugos Chi Limited, Mohammed Najib and Company Limited,
Dombee Nigeria Limited, Futuhati Investment Limited and D C Okika Nigeria
Limited.
Out of the six
companies, three received some payments while the other three have received nothing
since 2017. The documents showed that Kaneen-G got N15 million, Zipson got N70
million and Mohammed Najib received N24 million. All the six companies are also
asking the National Assembly to pay them N50 million as damages as well as 21
and 10 per cent pre and post-judgment interest on the total contract sum.
One of the
contractors, Vish Integrated Service Limited, said it supplied six units of
Toyota Hilux vehicles 2017 edition at N31.2 million each and was expecting to
be paid a total of N187.2 million out of which N40 million was paid on November
17, 2017, N50 million on February 7, 2018 and N10million on April 30, 2018,
leaving a balance of N87.2 million.
Havilah Motors Ltd
which supplied 12 units of Toyota Hilux at a unit price of N31.2 million
totalling N374.4 million out of which only N62 million was paid leaving the
balance of N312.4 million.
Two firms; C L Ukas
Investment and Power Zone Limited said they supplied office equipment. Ukas
supplied office equipment to the sum of N96.4 million while Power zone supplied
office equipment for N114.9 million. Both have not received any payment since
2017.
“Why we are threatening legal action”
Some of the
contractors who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said they decided to take legal action
because they suspect that the National Assembly was out to scam them.
“In 2019, the same
management applied for bail out from the federal government to clear their
liabilities, the application was approved and N30 billion was released but the
clerk and his management team diverted the funds by initiating new jobs to
enable him divert the money” said Okika Moses, one of the contractors.
Another contractor,
Abdulrazaq Hassan, said, “In this 9th Assembly, precisely in 2019, the House of
Representatives and the clerk of the National Assembly awarded another batch of
400 utility vehicles for the members, this time, Toyota Camry at N50 million
per unit, notwithstanding the numbers already procured for the leadership and
the principal officers amounting to about N4 billion. This was done while
ignoring the liabilities of the 8th Assembly of about more than N15 billion.”
“And many of the
members cannot deny knowledge of these liabilities because some of them were
returned in this 9th Assembly. Note that the total capital for the House of
Representatives is N300 million monthly, which cannot even pay the outstanding
liabilities but they still went ahead to incur another liability of N24 billion
on Nigerians. There are a lot of scams happening in the National Assembly,
particularly with the management,” he said.
Many members of the
current House of Representatives, including Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and
Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase were members of the 8th Assembly that benefitted from
the vehicles and office equipment.
National Assembly reacts
When contacted, the
Director of Information of the National Assembly management, Rawlings Agada,
said he does not have the fact on the matter.
He also said it is
strictly a matter that concerns the House services committee and not the
National Assembly management.
“It is not the clerk
who decides if the House of Reps will buy vehicles or not, they decide what
they want to buy for themselves and it goes through the official process.
“If it is purchase
of vehicles for management staff, I can find out the details. But on this,
contact the House spokesperson or House Services. I will advise that you talk
to the House Services because it is not within my purview at all.
“The management
cannot go into the Senate account for instance to take money except there is an
authorisation from their leadership,” he said.
The spokesperson for
the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, did not respond to enquiries by
this newspaper on the issue. He did not return calls and a message sent to his
phone.
Also, the chairman
of the House Services committee in the 8th Assembly, Nasiru Baballe, did not
respond to enquiries.
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