Dr Bashir Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service(NCS), has called for the sanctioning of contractors who received full payment but abandoned critical power equipment at seaports for over 20 years.
Adeniyi made the call on Friday at Apapa NCS Command, Lagos, during a stakeholders’ meeting on appropriate sanctions for defaulting contractors who failed to fulfil their contractual obligations.
He spoke alongside the Minister of Power, Mr Joseph Tegbe, during the engagement that focused on facilitating the immediate release of 98,out of 300 containers of power equipment, abandoned at the ports.
Adeniyi described the abandonment of equipment procured with public funds as “irresponsible handling of taxpayers’ money”, declaring that such conduct amounted to economic sabotage and should not go unpunished.
“There is an important lesson here. This exercise has exposed a disturbing trend where some contractors, who got government contracts and were fully paid, later abandoned the equipment at the ports for years.
“This is not helping Nigerians or the economy at all. Contractors, who accepted government projects and received payment but failed to deliver, must be regarded as economic saboteurs,” Adeniyi said.
The NCS boss said that defaulting contractors should be held accountable, noting that items procured through donor agencies for essential services, particularly healthcare, had also been fully paid for, but deliberately abandoned at the ports.
“The NCS is an agency of the Federal Government; we will not condone such attitude. The 300 containers we are referring to, are merely indicative. There could be even more,” he said.
He emphasised that sanctioning the erring contractors would serve as an appropriate starting point in ensuring accountability and preventing a recurrence of such wasteful practice in public procurement.
“We can start by sanctioning these defaulting contractors who abandoned government equipment, despite receiving full payment, to ensure that they do not have another opportunity to benefit from government contracts,” he said.
Adeniyi disclosed that the NCS had commenced the immediate clearance of more than 300 containers, with the first batch of 44 containers to be released from ENL terminal and 54 others from Tin Can Island Port.
He explained that the equipment included hydropower platforms, cables, switchgears and other transmission infrastructure required by the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.
Adeniyi said the release followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive after a presentation by the Minister of Power to the Federal Executive Council, with relevant agencies directed to resolve all outstanding charges without delay.
He said that the NCS had introduced priority processing, deployed dedicated officers for joint examinations and implemented approved waivers on accumulated charges to accelerate the clearance of the long-abandoned consignments.
Adeniyi urged ministries, departments and agencies to strengthen engagement with the NCS so that no project critical to national development is held back at the ports or border stations.(NAN)