Kano Printing Press in N300 million payment scandal, as state govt faces possible lawsuit
Kano State government may face a lawsuit from a private company over its refusal to pay for goods its agency took for the printing of some school instructional materials.
The matter was reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the transaction, which involves over three hundred million naira.
The Managing Director of Kano Printing Press, Yahaya Mohammed Madobi, whose agency was involved in the contract, was summoned by the EFCC over the matter. A source said he was detained by the anti-graft agency before he was released on bail.
A sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed that a former state commissioner of education, Umar Haruna Doguwa, instructed the state printing agency to supply a certain number of instructional materials.
He said the agency went ahead to procure necessary ingredients for the printing of the job and produced the required number of the materials. The ingredients were gotten from a company named Value Paper.
The instructional materials, which were said to include the new national anthem as well as attendance register, were delivered to the government, which acknowledged their receipt and the state governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, went ahead to distribute them.
However, when Value Pare which made supplies to printing press, failed to get their payment after several demands from the printing agency, it reported the matter to the EFCC.
It was at the EFCC that it became obvious that the state government had not perfected the award of the contract for the printing in the first place. The commissioner of education who instructed the printing agency, Umar Haruna Doguwa, was removed and deployed to another ministry before he could perfect the contract award.
The new education commissioner was said to have refused to pursue the payment, saying he could not find any document upon which to act.
The Kano Printing Press, being a government agency, did not await further instructions but just went ahead to execute the contract in order to meet the timeframe it was given.
As of the time of publishing this story, Kano State government has not paid for the instructional materials it took delivery of, but has gone ahead to use them for the purposes it desired.
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When contacted, the Managing Director of the printing press denied that he was detained, saying Kano Printing Press only executed a printing contract which it delivered according to instructions.
When pressed further, he reluctantly conceded that Value Paper has not been paid by the government, but added that there is an understanding between his agency and the supplying company to take the matter out the EFCC.
It is uncertain how long this so-called ‘understanding’ will hold if Kano State government refuses to pay for the job within acceptable timeframe.
