Nigeria Content Online

The Bureau of
Public Procurement (BPP) yesterday raised alarm over the abuse of
stipulated procurement due processes by ministries, departments and
agencies (MDAs).

Emeka Ezeh, the
Director General of the procurement agency, who stated this at the
third National Procurement Forum, said the revision of the threshold
for contracts valued at between N50 million and N1 billion has led to a
high incidence of malpractices, including contract splitting,
collusion, award of contracts to same persons using different company
names, and abuse of prequalification procedures.

Though he said the
implementation of the Public Procurement Act (2007) has largely
succeeded in democratising the public contracting system, by promoting
competition, and helping curb wastefulness in the application of public
funds, Mr Ezeh said the greatest challenge the bureau is facing has
been the resistance from members of the elite class in the society.

“I am the most
investigated public officer in Nigeria today, because a few powerful
class of elite see the implementation of the Act as being responsible
for the non-implementation of the budget. They have been using
blackmail, media, frivolous petitions against my person and officers of
the Bureau. In some cases, they try to use investigative agencies like
the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the police to intimidate.

“I have appeared
over 250 times before various committees of the National Assembly and
uncountable times at the ICPC along with officers of the bureau, who
are constantly offered all kinds of goodies, ranging from promise of
contracts to money, all in attempt to circumvent the process and bring
the hard earned reputation of the bureau to ridicule,” he stated.

Describing the
petitions as healthy, as they help strengthen the process to bring
accountability and good governance in the system, Mr Ezeh urged the
petitioners to desist from constantly interfering with the procurement
process.

Guest speakers from
United States, United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Tanzania,
Trinidad and Tobago as well as Ghana would share their experiences at
the forum, while heads of key local institutions would also present
papers.

The Minister of
Finance, Olusegun Aganga, who was the event’s Chairman, said the forum
was timely – coming at a time when the nation needs to take all
necessary steps to address her infrastructure deficits and restore the
country on a structurally sounder basis for renewed economic growth.

The Bureau of
Public Procurement is a major ally in the process and was created as
part of government’s effort to sanitise the procurement practices in
the public sector following a World Bank study which revealed that the
nation was getting less than 40 per cent value for its public
expenditures.

Describing this as
unacceptable, Mr Aganga said any government serious about checking
public wastage of its resources will not hesitate to initiate radical
changes necessary to curb the excesses, pointing out that the first
step was the establishment of monitoring and price intelligence unit in
the Presidency.

Though he said the
administrative unit recorded limited successes in its mandate, the
minister said there is need for a stronger structure under the agency,
adding that government is determined to sanitise the process of public
expenditure, by entrenching a planned approach to such exercise, as
against existing ad hoc approach.

“To this end,
government is working towards reviewing its expenditure to strengthen
the monitoring and implementation processes, to entrench a
performance-based budget system,” he said, adding that this will help
consolidate on the successes achieved so far in the monitoring and
implementation of government projects.

The proposed
system, he explained is a process of rewarding chief executives of
government agencies and departments for best practices in their
businesses based on some stated performance indicators bordering on the
level, quality and efficiency of implementation.

The pilot of the
new scheme is to be implemented in the key big spending government
agencies either before the end of the year or early next year in
conjunction with the International Monetary Fund.

While urging
participants to move towards adopting measures capable of enhancing the
quality, accountability and efficiency of public expenses adopted by
the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia, Vietnam and the
Philippians under the construction sector transparency initiative led
by the Department for International Development (DFID).

“We must take every step necessary to achieve transparency and
accountability to ensure that Nigerians get value for every Naira spent
as well as enhance the quality and efficiency of government’s
expenses,” he said.