The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal, has given Federal Government agencies a two-week deadline to collate and submit their procurement records for 2014 to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) or risk government sanctions.
According to a statement from the Bureau’s Head, Public Communication, Thomas Odemwingie, the SGF gave this directive in Abuja in a keynote address before declaring open a one-day interactive session on public procurement with procurement officers of federal ministries. The session was organized by the BPP.
Represented by Dr (Mrs) Ijeoma Unaogu, a Director of Economic Policy Analysis in the office of the SGF, Eng Lawal noted that Nigeria is one of the countries whose procurement regulatory frameworks and legislations are patterned after the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model law on public procurement.
Being a signatory to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), Nigeria’s fight against corruption, he noted, is statutorily expected to shift from corrective to preventive measures.
“This will involve ensuring strict compliance with extant regulations and guidelines on public procurement,” he stressed.
On the failure of any MDAs to submit procurement records to the BPP, he warned, “For the avoidance of doubt, this administration strictly upholds the rule of law anda as such, submission of procurement records and all other statutory requirements of the Procurement Act shall be enforced by this government. To this end, I hereby direct all MDAs to collate and submit their procurement records for 2014 to the BPP on or before Monday, the 26th of October, 2015.”
Eng Lawal asked the BPP to submit the list of ministries that fail to comply with this directive to his office “for appropriate sanctions.”
The sanctions include “suspension of officers concerned with the procurement or disposal proceeding in issue; replacement of the head or any of the members of the procuring or disposal unit of any entity or the Chairperson of the Tenders Board as the case may be; penalising the Accounting Officer of any procuring entity and temporary transfer of the procuring and disposal function of a procuring and disposing entity to a third party procurement agency or consultant.
The SGF welcomed the efforts of the BPP to collaborate with state governments in order to domesticate the Procurement Act in their respective states to ensure that the gains of the reforms transcend the federal level to the national level. “Government will take more than a passing interest in the National Public Procurement Forum on which the Bureau is already taking the lead,” he said.
He assured that the National Council on Public Procurement would be inaugurated as soon as government satisfactorily addresses the issues around the body.