By Ben Agande
ABUJA—PLANS by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the smooth conduct of the 2011 elections were, yesterday, hit by fresh pressures from the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, to slash prices of the Direct Data Capture Machines for the voters’ registration exercise.

Vanguard learnt that the BPP has directed that the contract prices which were reportedly estimated by INEC at $2,000 each be slashed by at least ten percent.

About 132,000 machines are being ordered by INEC for each of the country’s 120,000 electoral wards with a supplementary provision of another 12,000 for backup.

Although contracts for the acquisition of the machines have been awarded to three contractors, the inability of INEC, BPP and the contractors to attain a common ground on the issue of price has stalled the formal signing of the contracts.

Vanguard understood that the contractors had vowed that they would not to cut back on the agreed sum on the grounds that the contract was already “bare bone”. A source at the commission said the BPP which is empowered to scrutinize all government contracts has insisted that the contract sums be slashed by 10 per cent as that was what the Bureau assessed to be the right price for the machines.

It was learnt that INEC officials would visit BPP today to further persuade the bureau on the exigency of immediately awarding the contract in order not to distort the commission’s plans for the 2011 election.

A source privy to the development said: “INEC’s certificate of no objection was issued at a level of less than 10 per cent, so they have to get a  new certificate of no objection before contracting.”

Contract amount

Although the commission has refused to disclose the exact amount for the contract, Vanguard gathered that it was worth several billions of Naira.

It would be recalled that INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, had told a delegation of the European Union that visited him earlier this month that though the contract had been awarded, “there were problems.”

He had said: “The acquisition of the DDC machines has reached an advanced stage. We have had some setback but we are making some tremendous progress. We have a plan B which we are not only keeping to our chest but we have put it in our chest. As a commission, we are committed to the success of the voters registration exercise.”

Several text messages sent to INEC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umenger, Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu; and National Commissioner in charge of Information, Prince Solomon Soyebi were not replied to at the time of this report.