President Buhari has approved the 2019 operations budget of the NNPC, the Group Managing Director of the corporation, Dr. Maikanti Baru, has disclosed.
Though, Baru did not give the financial details of the corporation’s budget for 2019, he, however, stated that Buhari was gracious to approve it early enough.
He was, however, silent on whether or not the corporation would submit the budget to the National Assembly for legislation in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, which provides that federal revenue generating agencies must submit their budgets to the National Assembly even when some of their boards have powers to approve same.
According to a statement issued yesterday by NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC boss said the corporation would move against any of its staff or management found guilty of taking any action that contravenes the provisions of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) in the award of contracts.
He said there would be severe penalties for any of them found to have violated the PPA in award of contracts.
Baru who was quoted as giving the warning at a supply chain management workshop for NNPC’s procurement managers which held at its corporate headquarters in Abuja, also cautioned staff against contract splitting and accumulation.
He revealed that such acts are deliberately done by procurement managers to subvert due process in the procurement process.
He restated the corporation’s commitment to transparency in every aspect of its operations, stressing that all procurements and contract awards in the corporation under his watch so far had been carried out in conformity with the PPA.
To further deepen the culture of transparency in the corporation, Baru directed the supply chain management division of NNPC to step up its level of monitoring of the various tender boards within the corporation for full compliance.
Commending Buhari for the early approval of NNPC’s budget, he stated that as Nigeria’s chief revenue earner, the corporation was committed to the economic policies of the federal government.
