FG does not pay its agencies for consultancy- BPE

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) says the Federal Government does not pay consultation fess to agencies but only the cost of getting jobs done.
This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday by the Head, Public Communications Department of BPE, Mr Alex Okoh.
Okoh disclosed that this clarification was due to misconceptions by the media on some of BPE’s financial transactions.



The statement said it was alleged that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) received payment of N500 million as consultancy for taking part in the privatisation of PHCN.
According to the statement, in the privatisation process, the OAGF handled payment of the labour liabilities of the workers of PHCN.
It said the OAGF had argued that the approval of the amount was necessary because of the meagre overhead allocations in their 2013 and 2014 budgets.
The BPE explained that part of the sum was for engagement of an IT Consultant who had been conducting integrity and quality checks on data for payment submitted by the BPE
It said it was also used for payment to a consultant who undertook an IT-based reconciliation between its (OAGF)’s record of payment and reports received from the paying banks.
It said that part of the payment was to purchase items like toner, papers, compact disk, and flash drive needed for the payment exercise and for cost of adverts in several national newspapers
The BPE said that the sum was also used to pay allowances to staff of the OAGF who worked overtime to ensure the payments were effected without delay.
On the issue of a contract sum of N929 million legal fees for the winding up of PHCN, it said the office of the Attorney-General withdrew its objection and endorsed the sum.
It said the National Council on Privatisation in May 2013 considered and approved the award of a contract to Messrs J.K. Gadzama & Partners as the Consultant, Legal advisory services for PHCN winding up.
The statement said the contract was awarded in the sum of N929.61million for a period of six months after obtaining a BPP “no objection’’.
It said the office of Attorney-General had earlier objected to the necessity of the procurement, but later withdrew its objection and endorsed the engagement of the company via a letter.
It said the council consequently approved that BPE should proceed to execute the contract with the company in the said sum based on the “no objection” earlier granted by BPP.
The statement further assured that the BPE always followed due process and obtained all necessary approvals before embarking on any transaction. (NAN)