The National Identity Management Commission is proposing N25 billion to procure more servers for the storage of National Identity Number enrolment records. It is to submit its proposal to the Federal Executive Council on Wednesday.
The Director General, NIMC, Aliyu Abubakar Aziz, disclosed this on Tuesday while appearing before Senate Public Accounts Committee, which is probing the agency over alleged non-compliance with Public Procurement Act on award of N229 million contract. He said 57 million persons have, so far, been registered, adding that 90 servers were needed to register 100 million Nigerians.
“For us to reach 100 million, we will need 90 servers. We have enrolled 57 million as of today. We will ask for N25 billion at FEC tomorrow to buy more server to take the whole of population,” he said. Meanwhile, the Auditor-General for the Federation, in a 2017 report, said NIMC, in October, 2017 procured 22 units of servers at a cost of N229.7 million with no evidence of Ministerial Tender’s Board approval.
“There was an initial payment of ₦103.4 million vide payment voucher number NIMC/01/016 CA/18 dated 19/01/18, representing 45% of the contract sum as against the mobilization fee of 15%. The other subsequent payments were not also backed by an interim performance certificate as required by Section 35(2) of the public procurement Act 2007.
“This is an indication of weakness in the internal control system at National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
“This could lead to poor value for money and possibility of misapplication and misappropriation of funds. Management’s response No response was received from management at the time of our report. Recommendation The Director General is required to refund the sum of ₦229 million,” the audit query said.
But the Director General claimed that the contract falls within the threshold of the Commission’s Tenders Board and that all the servers had been supplied before the initial payment of 45 percent which represent part payment and not mobilization due to paucity of funds.
He also said the contract was a continuation of procurement of Enterprise Servers and Storage Solution and Equipment which was awarded in 2012. The chairman of the committee, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, said it was wrong for the commission to continue 2012 Procurement process in 2017.
“We supposed to do status enquiry on your Commission because it looks like all your documents are muddled up,” the lawmaker said. The committee therefore asked the commission’s officials to reappear next week with more documents to back up their claims.
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