By Hassan Zaggi
The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEHUR) has condemned in strong terms the decision of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to set aside the agreement it earlier signed with the Federal Government of Nigeria to procure Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) from local manufacturers.
The group made it position known in a statement in Abuja, on Monday.
Discreet Findings by CEDEHUR indicated that UNOPS was contracted by the Nigerian government during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to source LLINs for distribution in Bayelsa, Edo, Enugu and Kogi and the FCT.
The project was tagged Immunisation Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT) and was singed for a four-year period.
CEDEHUR disclosed that UNOPS has received $62 million since 2022.
The statement explained that in the agreement, UNOPS terms of reference was to recruit local manufacturers to supply LLINs.
The group, however, regretted that UNOPS failed to respect the agreement, rather, “the UN Agency has decided to shop for foreign vendors which is against the agreement signed with the Nigerian government. The government specifically directed that the nets must be shopped from local manufacturers in order to promote local industries.”
The group further explained that: “Before approving the loan, which was sourced from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the National Assembly inserted a clause in the resolution that since they were local manufacturers, the nets must be sourced from them. The FG agreed and inserted the clause in the agreement.”
This, the group said, UNOPS is deliberately working to circumvent the Nigerian government policy to end malaria-related deaths.
In its publication debunking allegation of collusion and fraud, UNOPS said that it noticed an abnormally which forced it to undertake an investigation into those three companies.
“It is important to point out that the investigation was done outside the agreement with the government in which UNOPS assumed the status of an accuser, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner in a country governed by laws and in a project it was assigned to do.
“We state that UNOPS, being a profit-making agency of the UN, has been accused of charging high fees when compared with other profit and nonprofit agencies. It is therefore a wrong organisation to be awarded such a contract.
“The country is paying almost $3m for the service which could have been done by another procurement agency for 1/5 of that amount.
“It is, therefore, worrisome that UNOPS is deliberately working to sabotage the efforts of the federal government at reducing malaria related deaths in the country,” CEDEHUR noted.
Most worrisome also, the group said, the money used for the procurement is a loan to be paid by the federal government at 5 per cent interest rate.
CEDEHUR further said: “It’s appalling that UNOPS and the federal government of Nigeria identified local manufacturers of mosquito nets and tasked an agency to patronise them but the contractor would go against that directive in preference for foreign suppliers.
“UNOPS must explain to Nigeria in full why it unilaterally cancelled local tender and floated foreign tender as against the agreement it signed with the Nigerian government.
“The President Bola Tinubu-led government must also act fast and call UNOPS to order. It must not be allowed to disobey lawful orders.
“The Federal Ministry of Health must insist that the local tender be concluded and the winner announced. UNOPS must not receive money from Nigeria and act the way it likes.
“We call on the Health Minister, Ali Pate to act fast. The Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration must not be thwarted by some international agencies with questionable history on how they conduct their businesses.”
