By Samuel Malik

The scandal involving the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, has continued to worsen, with the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, and Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, trading blames over the award of a contract to a legal firm for the liquidation of the company.

BPE claimed it was right to award a contract, valued at N929.6 million, to Messrs J.K. Gadzama & Co for legal consultancy because it got a “No Objection” certificate from the BPP.

However, Thomas Odemwingie, BPP’s head of media, has denied that his agency issued such certificate, saying the certificate referred to by the BPE was withdrawn and cancelled.

“On the  advice  of  the Honourable  Attorney General  of  the Federation  the  BPP  had  earlier  on  September  22nd 2014, rejected the request for  the issuance of  certificate of  “No Objection”  to  contract  award.  The BPP Certificate Ref. BPP/S13/VOLVIII/190 dated 2nd September 2013, referred to by the BPE in favour of the legal firm was withdrawn and cancelled,” Odemwingie said in a statement made available to the www.icirnigeria.org.

According to Odemwingie, following its cancelation of the certificate, the Attorney General replied and asked the BPP to reconsider its position and re-issue the certificate but it refused. The BPP “approved  only  the engagement of Messrs. Ora Egbunike and Associates for the  asset  valuation  services  in  the  sum  of N517,694,100,” the BPP spokesperson said.

“This approval for the engagement of Messrs Ora Egbunike and Associates was subsequently approved by the Federal Executive Council.  There was no approval, to our knowledge, by either the President or Federal Executive Council for the engagement of the legal services,” he added.

According to the Public Procurement Act, a contract awarded by any government agency can only be valid when the BPP awards a certificate of “No Objection.”