What seems like a can of worms on the N529 million renovation contract was opened yesterday at the sitting of the nine-man panel investigating the controversial contract.

At the sitting which commenced five hours behind schedule, the National Assembly top bureaucrats said due process was not followed in the award of the various contracts for the renovation of the official residences of the House Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Etteh, and her deputy, Alhaji Babangida Nguroje.

Etteh has, however, hired the Services of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Alhaji Yusuf Ali, to guide her when she testifies before the nine-man panel on Monday.

Ali was at the House Hearing Room I of the National Assembly, venue of the panel sitting, yesterday to monitor the activities of the probe panel.

The Director of Works and Estate at the National Asse-mbly, Alhaji Iris Mohammed Mahdi, who took the witness stand at exactly 3.10 pm yesterday said he was given some sets of quotations by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Nasiru Arab, to process for the jobs without the bill of quantity.

“I was given and asked to process. When I looked through, it was just quotations. I then assigned my architect to scrutinise it and we observed a lot of things that were not correct.

“There was no vivid description on the bill of quantity, rates, and amount. It was a series of lump sum amount of money. We removed some and put prime cost. About 75 percent to 80 percent were not detailed. You could not arrive at a decision on that,” he said.

Mahdi also explained that the contractor, Messer Stateco Nigeria Limited , was avoiding him when his department wanted the Company to provide specifics on the bill but rather than do that went ahead to reduce the cost.

“He initially asked for N190 million and later returned to say he wanted to collect N170 million,” he said.

The director told the panel that Stateco officials later agreed that the contract should be revaluated because his quotation was based on prime cost.

Madhi disclosed that Stateco who had earlier asked that he be paid, instead of replying to the earlier letter, reduced the lump sum, avoiding the letters.

The director said the body of Principal Officers led by the Speaker awarded the contract, adding that “no architectural drawing, no Electrical , Engineering on it. I just worked on the quotation sent in by the contractor.”

“The normal thing was not done in the award of the contract. The Speaker signed but I was not there I should have advised her not to do that,” he said.

On the State of the structures in question as of when the former Speaker, Alhaji Bello Aminu Masari, left office, Mahdi said, “we did not see anything there in the House after Masari left.”

He said though he was aware that the structures belonged to the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), he added that a recent circular by the Federal Government had directed that organisations like the National Assembly should take over the maintenance of the buildings under their custody.

However, when asked if the meeting where the contract was awarded by the Body of Principal Officers was properly constituted, he explained that “we were properly constituted. My Chief Executive was there.”

In the course of the sitting, Saleh Minjibir, a member of the panel, asked the director to respond to revelations that two of the Companies that tendered for the jobs, Lee Development and CNO Development , shared the same office at Suite 30 Central Area Abuja , same telephone numbers and same directors. Mahdi, however, explained that he was not in a position to know All those details.

He directed the panel to the Director of Legal Services .

The panel Rose briefly around 5.55 pm and came back 20 minutes later.

After the break, the Acting Director of Legislative Budgeting, Kolawole John Usman, who later testified before the panel, said the contract awarded followed Federal Government ’s Financial regulations.

When asked why the selective tendering was used to award the contracts, he said it was due to the urgency required to find a befitting accommodation for the two principal officers of the House .

\"We had just six weeks to complete the job. There was pressure on us and the Speaker wanted to enter her official residence before the resumption from the six-week recess. Like I said, there was nothing unusual in the manner of awarding the contract. The Financial regulations were followed. I think under the circumstances we found ourselves, it was proper,” he said.

FCDA officials and contractors Are scheduled to appear before the panel today.

Meanwhile, the Speaker’s decision to hire Ali has become an issue in the assembly.

One of the three lawyers on the panel told THISDAY that Ali would not be allowed to lead Etteh in giving evidence before the panel.

The panel member said House Standing Rules forbid any external Defence in such matters.

He said the rule would be strictly followed by the panel.

\"It is not going to be possible. We have rules that Are very clear on that and we Are going to follow the rules to the last letter,” he said.