ReportsNG
Behind the walls of one of Nigeria’s foremost medical institutions, where public resources are expected to translate into healthcare and training, records from the 2023 financial year of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) have revealed procurement irregularities amounting to ₦1,019,310,255.79.
The findings are spread across three separate areas of procurement and due-process breaches, involving unauthorised constituency and zonal intervention projects, contracts awarded without due process, and selective tendering conducted without the required regulatory approval.
The largest component, amounting to ₦449,809,853.79, was spent on constituency and zonal intervention projects executed without approval from the relevant authorities. The requirement for appropriate approval before public funds are committed to projects forms part of the financial and procurement control framework governing public expenditure, and the expenditure therefore raises a compliance issue where such approval was absent.
Similarly, ₦380,012,152.00 was linked to contracts awarded without following due process. The Public Procurement Act 2007 establishes due-process requirements for the award of public contracts, including procedures designed to ensure transparency, competition and accountability in public procurement. The award of contracts without following the prescribed process therefore constitutes a breach of the procurement requirements established under the Act.
Additionally, ₦189,488,250.00 was involved in selective tendering conducted without the mandatory Certificate of “No Objection” from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). Under the Public Procurement Act 2007, open competitive bidding is the standard method for public procurement, while departure from that procedure through selective tendering requires compliance with the conditions prescribed by the Act, including the required approval from the BPP. The absence of the Certificate of “No Objection” therefore represents a violation of the statutory procurement procedure.
Professor Abdullah Dasilva Yussuf has served as the Chief Medical Director of UITH since 2018 and remains in the position. His tenure therefore covers the period under review. As the institution’s chief executive and accounting officer, his administration was in charge of the hospital during the period in which the transactions were recorded.
Moreso, the Public Procurement Act 2007 places obligations on procuring entities and their responsible officers to ensure that procurement is conducted in accordance with the prescribed procedures. Consequently, the procurement findings relate to the compliance of the institution’s procurement processes with the statutory requirements governing federal public institutions.
