The Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN) wants President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) in order to prevent future fraudulent activities in the Niger Delta Development Communication (NDDC) and other department of agencies in the country.
The call is coming after stunning revelations of financial misconduct and irregularities of contracts awarded at the NDDC which was discovered by the Nigeria senate during one of its public hearings recently.
PRADIN, in a press release obtained by DNN is backing the Senate’s resolution after its investigation, urging the president to swiftly set up the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP).
This, according to Mohammed Bougei Attah, National Coordinator of PRADIN is germane towards the administration’s fight against corruption in the country.
“The establishment of the NCPP is central to fighting corruption in Nigeria, as the Council has the principal responsibility to sanitize the public sector through full application of the law,” said Attah.
Setting up the NCPP is in pursuance of Section 1 of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 which is backed by law to purge the public sector if found wanting of contravening the procurement act.
These criminal infractions according to Attah are a direct consequence of the failure of the President to Constitute and inaugurate the NCPP despite repeated calls by PRADIN and the National Assembly over the years.
“This shows that most of the awards were not backed by budget, have no bills of engineering measurement or drawings and were just open cheque for contractors and their collaborators to fill in at the nearest banks.
“The President must act NOW and inaugurate the NCPP thirteen years after the enactment of the PPA and stop the continuing illegality of our public procurement process with the attendant consequences of corruption, waste of resources, crippling poverty and underdevelopment of an entire region which produces 80 percent of the country’s foreign exchange,” Attah added.
He hinted that the non enactment of the commission, has given room for multiple breaches of the act which would have been prevented in the commission adding that public procurement account for over 70% of total corruption in MDAs, the inauguration of the NCPP would be a lasting legacy of the President and of prime importance if this administration is actually determined to fight corruption and lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
PRADIN in partnership with a group of non state actors working has been championing the cause of transparent procurement process involving the public sector.
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