Ill-fated Immigration recruitment contract not advertised – Firm

    
The Firm that developed the electronic platform for the ill-fated recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service three weeks ago, Messrs Drexel Technologies Nigeria Limited, has said that the multi-million naira contract was not advertised for competitive bidding by the Ministry of interior.

The Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of the company,  Mr. Theodore Maiyaki, stated this before the Senate Committee on Interior, probing the circumstances that led to the death of 16 people during the March 15 recruitment exercise into the NIS.

He was responding to questions from members of the Senator Abubakar Bagudu led Senate committee on the role of his firm in  the unfortunate tragedy, during the two-day public hearing which rounded off on Friday.

The committee faulted the award of the contract to Drexel which it claimed did not qualify to win such job going by its Memorandum of the Articles of Association.

According to Bagudu, the Drexel’s Memorandum of Articles of Association, showed that it was incorporated in 2011 to carry out business of general contract, Finance import and market all kinds of electrical appliances, and provide business of mechanized agriculture.

He said, “I have seen the memorandum of articles of this company, it is business of general contracts, distribution of general goods, where does that allow you to engage in this kind of technical service?

“It is just a shareholder in SW global, How does that qualify you for the contract awarded to you?”

But Maiyaki said the company was incorporated in 2011 and immediately bought majority shares into  SW Global which already was over 10 years in existence and doing the same business as the contract awarded to it.

He urged the committee to look at the statement of share capital and return of the firm’s lodgement of SW Global in which drexel has N80m shares.

He said, “The SW Global is a complete IT based company. That was the nexus that gave us the proficiency to handle the project.

“The articles of Association permits drexel to invest in another company that is why it invested in SW Global Limited to enable it prosecute its mandate.”

The committee,  however faulted the argument of Maiyaki and insisted that the contract was not in order because it was not signed between the ministry and SW Global which had the profiency to execute it.