Reps give contractor Monday deadline to submit documents on collapsed UNILAG building

The House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement, on Saturday, in Lagos, gave the consultant and structural engineer, Mr. Oreoluwa Fadayomi, and contractor, Mr Olatunde Runsewe of Dutum Co Ltd, handling the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, library project which partially collapsed in February until 2 p.m. on Monday (tomorrow) to submit all necessary documents that will help the committee in its  investigations.

The duo were given the deadline while appearing before the committee for questioning at the Senate Building of the university with principal officers of the university and some members of Governing Council in attendance.

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The Chairman of the committee, Oluwole Oke,  after a tour of projects in the university said the committee visited to investigate the collapsed part of rebuilding library and the alleged financial infractions contrary to the Procurement Act of 2007 as brought to its notice by the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council of the university, Dr Wale Babalakin.

It will be recalled that Babalakin had earlier issued queries to some past and present principal officers of the university, including the incumbent vice chancellor and his immediate predecessor, Professors Oluwatoyin Ogundipe and Rahamon Bello, respectively, the former registrar and the  bursar , Mrs TaiwoIpaye and Mr Lateef Odekunle, and his successor, Lekan Lawal, among others, to explain their roles in allegation of financial infractions, among others.

Oke, however, said: “We are here in pursuant to resolution of the House mandating us to investigate the alleged infractions of provisions of public procurement Act 2007 and other financial issues. And we invited the stakeholders.

“Even though the regulators – the NUC and the Federal Ministry of Education have already taken steps, we felt that the allegations of the Pro-Chancellor were very weighty and we felt we should investigate his claims.”

He noted that part of the thing the committee had already established from investigations so far was that there was no clear understanding of the functions of the council and the management.

“And we drew the attention of the council member to the Provisions of Section 20 of the Procurement Act which states that it is the Accounting Officer that has the mandate to manage, supervise; to ensure compliance to the provision of the Procurement Act. That has been stated clearly.

“And the Accounting Officer of the university is the Vice Chancellor. And it is clearly stated in Section 20 that it shall be immaterial whether he has delegated a person or group of persons to carry out one function or the other, that in case of any infractions, he shall be personally liable. And we have drawn his attention to this provision that henceforth, he should take charge as required of the office and if anything goes wrong, the government will hold him responsible.”

He added: “On the allegation of the university library, a portion of it caved in, we inspected, we saw it, we summoned the contractor. The consultant that the university engaged to manage that project, they’ve been asked to make presentations to the committee by Monday (tomorrow) unfailingly because they are the experts.

“We are mindful of the safety and future of our children. We don’t want a situation where we think it is safe to continue the project and when it is finished they are reading and something else would happen.”

“So, we would have to carry out thorough and conclusive investigations on all the issues raised will parties involved satisfied.”