FG Moves To Avert Repeat of P& ID Saga, Unveils Manual On Contract Mgt, Compliance

The Federal Government, yesterday, launched a programme tagged ‘Federal Complex Contracts Process and Administration (FCAS)’ to tackle financial risks in contract management.

The Solicitor-General of Nigeria and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, said FCAS was designed to enhance operational efficiency in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Jedy-Agba stated this at the 2023 Manual and Workshop Engagement with Legal Advisors and Key Stakeholders in Abuja.

The theme of the workshop is ‘Strengthening Contract Management and Compliance in Federal Governance’.

She expressed concern over developmental challenges and lack of clarity arising from the contracts that the government entered into despite having the Public Procurement Act, and Fiscal Responsibility Act, among others.

The permanent secretary, who decried the ways and manners laws were being undermined in the country, said Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) should be governed by law.

“You cannot just do what you like. We expect that you have the capacity, which should reflect in the quality of agreement you are bringing,” she said, adding that legal advisors must do their best to avert failed contracts and mitigate the effect.

According to her, collaboration is key to ensuring the effective implementation of projects we deliver on behalf of the government.

A Deputy Director in the ministry, Augustine Kalu, said the new move was to guide the ministry and various departments to navigate the FCAS platform and get results.

One of its fundamental objectives, he noted, is to ensure that any project not needed is not embarked upon.

On implementation plans, Kalu said about 40 MDAs had been unbundled.

He assured that the government was very much interested in the process and that it would not jettison the programme but carry it to a logical conclusion.

“We will look at the feasibility studies, Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, funding arrangement and due diligence so that projects are not abandoned,” Kalu said.

The Chief Consultant to the ministry on FCAS, Dr Mark Igiehon, expressed the government’s readiness to take action through the justice ministry to avert what happened in the case of Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) contract.

“Government is now ready to take action on such high level, high valued and high-risk projects so that in the future, we will have fewer contracts failure and would not have to pay a huge sum of money on failed contracts,” Igiehon said.