With just 19 days to exit office, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has given reasons why it continues to approve multi-billion naira contracts for award, insisting that it remains in office and will work until the last day.
The explanation came after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja considered 37 agenda items in a marathon session on Wednesday before announcing the award of contracts in various sectors.
Speaking at the post-FEC media briefing, the Senior Special Assistant to the President, Garba Shehu, described Wednesday’s session as quite extraordinary, saying: “It’s been a very long day for everyone, 37 agenda items were considered for today’s meeting. Quite extraordinary.”
Fielding questions on why the administration had waited till late hour before churning out Wednesday’s contracts, the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, maintained that the administration will continue to perform its duties to May 28.
He said: “Ladies and gentleman, without any intentions of mischief, this government was elected to function from 2019 to precisely 29th of May 2023. Should we now stop functioning one month before the next appointment because we’re coming to the end of the tenure?
“This government must work. We expect the next government to also work until the very last day of their tenure.”
Also speaking, Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu, explained that contracted processes take time, saying that even if the administration cannot finish what it has started, government being a continuum, it will be be the business of the incoming government.
He said: “If I may add, there are processes and this process have started. We’re still operating the 2022 budget, we have agencies. These things are not just done in one day. We had lots of submissions to BPP to ICRC, all the agencies involved in the procurement, and they have to get ready.
“So, anytime they’re ready, it’s at that point that we have to submit. And like the Minister of Transportation said, we’re still in office technically until the 28th of May.
So, we still have to operate. And this is the instruction that we have from Mr. President.
Since the elections were conducted, that government must continue to function regardless of elections and so on. And so we’re just doing our duty as we should serve in the country.
“We do not control the process, but when it’s completed and we’re still in office, we’re duty-bound to bring these memos to Council for Council to approve. Government is a continuum. There are still a lot of memos.
“I can assure you a lot of contracts will not see the light of day in the next one week or two. And for those, we don’t have any option but to let the process continue. And then for the next government to come and continue. That’s what we face also.
“Some of the very first memos we brought to council in 2015, for me, I had no idea when they started, but I had to be briefed on, this was the the way that it had to be and then we were brought in here. So, government is a continuum. And it should be seen as such.
“And I think this administration should be given that full credit because, to a large extent, we have continued since 2015, to implement projects and programs that we didn’t initiate that which, in our assessment, were good for the country. We continued them, we didn’t jettison them, and we’re confident that the incoming administration will do the same.”
