Rivers State House of Assembly The Rivers State House of Assembly has passed into law a bill seeking the amendment of the state's Public Procurement Law No.1 of 2021 and other related matters.
The amended law will peg the mobilization fee to contractors handling government projects in the state to 20%.
The law further strengthens the legislative's stance against Governor Siminalayi Fubara's decision to allegedly pay 100 percent contract sum in the name of mobilization funds to some contractors handling projects in Rivers State.
At the debate for the amendment of the bill, Hon. Lemchi Nyeche, a Member representing Ikwerre Constituency, who sponsored the bill argued that "The importance of the Bill cannot be overemphasized as it seeks to delete Section 3 of 2021 amendment Law, and to ensure that mobilization fee of not more than twenty percent of the contract Sum is paid to suppliers or contractors, supported by a contract performance bond.
Contributing to the debate, Members applauded the Bill, stating that when passed into Law, it will curb reckless and arbitral payment of mobilization fees in government contracts, adding that twenty percent is enough for any serious government contractor to mobilize to the site and commence work.
Commenting on the Bill, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule emphasized the importance of the passage of the Bill, which he noted will engender probity and accountability in the payment of mobilization fees in the State.
Rt. Hon. Amaewhule described the situation where one man is given the latitude to give even a hundred percent of the contract sum in the name of mobilization as absurd, and once again condemned the refusal of the Governor to appoint Chairman and members of the Board of the Bureau for Public Procurement.
He hinted that the purported appointment of an Acting Director-General of the Bureau for Public Procurement is not known to the Law establishing the Bureau, therefore, such an appointment cannot stand.
A source revealed to The Round Table that the newly amended law will give room for another political conflict in the state, and Governor Siminalayi Fubara may suffer the new battle citing what the legislative is doing as a technical approach to silencing the Governor.
The source claimed that the state government was recently accused of paying a 100% contract sum to some of its contractors in the name of mobilization fee, although there was no enacted law of the state opposing that as of when the allegation came up. However, our source said it could be considered "absurd" as the speaker described it, paying 100% contract sum in the name of a mobilization fee.
Interestingly, the Governor of the State, Siminalayi Fubara, may decide to veto the bill and refuse to sign it into law but the House of Assembly, as it did recently on a Local Government Autonomy Law, may pocket the Governor's Veto and sign the bill into the extant law of Rivers State.
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Category: World-News
Tag: Fubara in Tight Corner as Rivers Assembly Passes Public Procurement Amendment Bill
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Published 3/28/2024 4:52:52 AM