Amnesty Office Justifies N88m Barbing Salon Contract | Nairalaw

The Amnesty Office has maintained that it breached no public
procurement law in the award of N88 million contract for the
empowerment of 22 Niger Delta youths in barbing and beauty salon
business under the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

The contract awarded to Messrs Tovo Vicks Nigeria Enterprises
Limited, it said, was in line with its mandate of providing human
capital development and skills acquisition for beneficiaries of the
Amnesty Programme towards deepening peace and stability in the
Niger Delta.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr. Murphy Ganagana, the
Special Assistant (Media) to the Special Adviser to the President
on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Prof. Charles
Dokubo, said that the N88 million contract sum for 22 beneficiaries
was based on a business set-up template of N4 million per
beneficiary.

He explained that the cost includes provision of
refresher/entrepreneurial training course to prepare beneficiaries
for effective management of their businesses; land acquisition or
shop rent for use by the beneficiaries, business name registration,
tax papers, account opening and branding; provision of
mentorship/monitoring and evaluation for three months after
successful setup process for beneficiaries, and comprehensive
documentation of empowered beneficiaries.

“We wish to state that the contract was awarded in line with due
process and the company, Tovo Vicks Nigeria Ent. Limited is duly
registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, with RC
1150012.

“Therefore, Prof. Dokubo did no wrong by awarding the contract
in furtherance of the mandate of the Presidential Amnesty
Programme. However, it should be noted that implementation of the
contract is yet to commence.

“This clarification has become necessary in view of the post of
a bromide of the contract award letter in the social media by
mischief makers, thereby causing opprobrious remarks from
undiscerning members of the public.

“Prof. Charles Dokubo will not be distracted by the antics of
enemies of progress whose aggression to grab contracts at the
Amnesty Programme and pocket funds meant for the training and
empowerment of beneficiaries of the programme has been effectively
checkmated. It is no longer business as usual,” the statement
said.