Mohammed Shosanya
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) dealers have petitioned the Senate Committee on Gas Resources over alleged secret award of N150 billion contract.
In the petition,the gas dealers disclosed that the contract was given to Rungas Group of companies for the supply of Type-3 LPG CYLINDERS under the Federal Government Palliative Scheme.
The group in the petition by its National Chairman, Comrade Sule Mohammed, said the award of the multi billion naira contract did not follow due process, as enshrined in the Public Procurement Act of 2007 as amended and asked federal government to quickly terminate the processs in the interest of the public .
According to the group, “As a company that benefits from the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Rungas failed to carry out the Project of Building a Composite Cylinder Manufacturing Plant as mandated by the Federal goverment in 2016. The project itself was not presented to the National Assembly for approval.”
Comrade Mohammed, in the two-page petition, also implored the federal government to stop the award of the contract and ensure due diligence
He said: “The whole transaction was done in secret, no transparency and the Company is not competent. The Company has not met the criteria set by the Regulatory Agency and was not presented to the National Asembly for appropriations.”
The group, in the petition date october 12 and titled: “Fraudulent activities of “Messrs Rungas Group and approval for the indiscriminate disbursement of the sum of 150bn naira from palliative scheme of the federal government, wish to draw the attention of the Senate Committee on Gas to the fraudulent activities of ‘Messrs RUNGAS GROUP,’ in the Gas value-chain sub-sector of the Petroleum Industry.
“Messrs RUNGAS GROUP had in the past, paraded the Project of “Composite Cylinder Manufacturing Plant, to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in 2016. The company was introduced to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to provide funding by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
“It is verified that NCDMB agreed a 30% equity partnership with the company to build the first Plant in Bayelsa State. That Plant is still not completed after the release of funds by NCDMB, even after the period of completion has elapsed, five years ago.
“The same company – ‘Messrs RUNGAS GROUP’ has again asked for the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Billion Naira (N150,000,000,000.00) from the Federal Government Palliative Scheme, with the pretence of carrying out the same project (Composite Cylinder Manufacturing Plant), to produce Type-3 LPG Cylinders, under the purported (Rungas Cylinder Offtake Agreement) and asked for another 10bn Naira from the Midstream and Downstream Gas Intervention Fund simultaneously and that too has been approved.
“The Senate should note that: The Minister of State cannot unilaterally sign a Partnership Agreement without a Federal Executive Council approval or without the presentation of the yearly Budget and Expenditure Proposal to the National Assembly, for approval.
“There must also be an attestation of the Ministry of Justice on such Memorandum of Understanding.”
