Secrets Reporters
A fresh review of financial records at the Federal Science College, Sokoto, has uncovered serious breaches in the award of contracts totaling ₦69,755,858.55, with transactions executed between June and December 2020 coming under sharp focus for bypassing established procurement laws.
The findings, which highlight a flagrant disregard for the Public Procurement Act, reveal that four major projects were hurriedly awarded without the legally required advertisements, competitive bidding processes, or the mandatory approval of the Tenders Board.
The projects implicated in this financial mismanagement include the procurement of a 40 KVA generator, the construction of two three-bedroom flats, upgrades to the school’s ICT centre, and the reconstruction of a store that had been gutted by fire.
Internal checks indicate that the circumvention of due process during this period has raised fears that public funds may have been diverted or paid out for jobs that were either poorly executed or never completed at all.
The lack of competitive bidding naturally raises red flags regarding the competence of the contractors who benefitted from these awards, suggesting that selection may have been based on connections rather than capability.
The timing of these transactions places the administration of the college’s provost during the 2020 calendar year at the centre of the controversy. While the specific names of the officials who authorized these payments were not explicitly detailed in the initial findings, the period in question coincides with the tenure of the school’s leadership at the time, who are now expected to account for the lapses in statutory compliance.
Critics argue that the absence of Tenders Board minutes and public advertisements creates a fertile ground for the inflation of contract sums and the award of jobs to cronies who lack the technical capacity to deliver.
The situation has prompted calls for a deeper probe to ascertain whether the 40 KVA generator and the new residential flats were actually built to specification or if the funds simply vanished into private pockets.
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