Determined to sanitize the business environment in the country, the Federal Government has barred 10 companies from doing business in the country. The companies have been found wanting in the list of corrupt contractors.
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Emeka Ezeh, who disclosed this in Abuja, at a one- day stakeholders’ workshop on the presentation of debarment procedure, said the proactive action taken was aimed at ensuring effective implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
“For the successful implementation of the public procurement Act 2007, the bureau has developed a debarment procedure after other international good practices that currently exist elsewhere across the globe.
“The proposed debarment procedure is one of the mechanisms developed by the bureau, to punish procurement related corrupt activities and inculcate the required discipline in Nigeria’s public procurement system,” he said.
Justifying further the debarment procedure, the DG noted it will encourage doing business in line with international best practices.
The debarment or sanctions are usually placed on companies doing businesses without recourse to due process, or for encouraging bribery and corruption in procurement processes, which negate the rules, as enshrined in Nigerian Procurement Act of 2007.
“If you violate any provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007, if one offers bribe and generally misrepresents facts and lies about his capability, with a view to changing the outcome of the procurement process, one is liable to sanctions, Ezeh said”.
According to him, the U.S. debarment process was among the oldest, adding that countries like Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, Bangladesh , Denmark and Senegal, among others have also established their own systems.
He also recalled, “In 2007, Nigeria also adopted cross-debarment system in the case of Messrs Lahmeyer International, which was debarred by the World Bank. Therefore, what the bureau is trying to implement is not new, as it already exists in other climes where the public procurement law has been implemented”.
With this debarment, the 10 companies will not be allowed do business in the country, according to their years of debarment, in addition to other sanctions that may follow. A breakdown of the barred companies shows 10 were barred by the World Bank and the remaining three by the Inter-American Development Bank Group.
The affected companies are Scientific Energy and Environmental Management System of 23B Ijora Drive, MKO Gardens, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, debarred from June 17, 2013 to June 17, 2015; SNC Lavalin, C/O Aluko Oyebode, 35 Moloney Street, Lagos debarred from May 7, 2013 to April 17, 2023; Sego Ventures, 17B Canery Drive, MKO Gardens, Lagos, debarred from June 3, 2011 to August 1, 2013.
Others are: Gurpreet Singh Malik, Lagos, permanently debarred since February 11, 2000. Kamal Sharda, Lagos, Sharda Impex (U.K), Lagos, Shereena Agriculture Ltd, Kano, Vikram Deepak Gursahaney, Lagos, has also been permanently debarred from February 11, 2000. Karitex Ltd was permanently debarred from February 24, 2000; and Contransimex Nig Ltd barred from May 30, 2012 to May 29, 2014.
