By Martins Oloja –
When will the National Procurement Council be inaugurated? When will the President allow the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to share some powers with the legal Council on Public Procurement generally known as ‘contracts award’ at the federal level?
Answers to these 11-year-old questions will no longer blow in the wind, as theCouncil will be inaugurated sooner than later.
This is official, thanks to the wind of change subscription to the strategic “Open Government Partnership” is fast bringing to the way corruption is being fought in the country.
Throughout last week, I was an active participant at the “Open Government Week” in Abuja where a reference to the absence of the Public Procurement Council since 2007 as part of some hindrance to an ‘open government’ led to the confirmation of government readiness to inaugurate the long neglected Public Procurement Council.
In fact, it was confirmed by the Permanent Secretary in Charge of General Services Office (GSO) in the Office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Day Four of the 5-day conference.
The Permanent Secretary, GSO Mr. Olusegun Adekunle represented the SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha who was present at the Monday opening ceremony the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo declared open.
In response to my observation and a written question by a participant on when the Procurement Council would indeed be inaugurated since 2007 when the then President Umaru Yar’Adua signed it into law, the Permanent Secretary said, “the Council has in fact been constituted and its inauguration will be done very soon”. And a spontaneous applause followed the clear answer to an 11-year old conundrum and anxiety – for inauguration of the Council.
That was part of the highlights of the Open Government Week 2018, which ended at the weekend in Abuja.
The conclusion of the whole matter is that sooner than later, President Muhammadu Buhari will take the glory of inaugurating the first ever Public Procurement Council (as provided by law) to deepen public engagement and involvement in procurement processes, being the focal points of corruption in public service.
Specifically, three past presidents have failed to inaugurate the Council.
President Olusegun Obasanjo government actually prepared the executive bill and failed to sign it into law. But he did not veto it. So it was with Fiscal Responsibility Bill, he also failed to sign into law as submitted too by the Clerk National Assembly then in 2007.
On June 4, 2007 the then President Yar’Adua signed it into law. But he failed to inaugurate the Council, which would have removed contracts award from the FEC thathas been acting as Tenders Board – till date.
Curiously, despite promises made during the 2015 election, President Muhammadu Buhari too has failed to inaugurate the National Council on Public Procurement, (NCPP) as required by the Public Procurement Act 2007.
Instead, the Federal Executive Council, FEC, under the leadership of the president, continues to usurp the most important function of the NCPP: approval of contracts.
The Public Procurement Act provides for the establishment of the NCPP, and the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, as the regulatory authorities responsible for the monitoring and oversight of public procurement as well as harmonising existing government policies and practices.
The Act was put in place to allow transparency and ensure public participation in government procurement.
Although President Yar’Adua, who signed the bill into Law, failed to inaugurate the NCPP until his death in office, his successor, Goodluck Jonathan, who stayed in office for six years also failed to inaugurate the Council.
In fact, President Jonathan’s spokesperson, Dr. Rueben Abati once asked The Guardian a rhetorical question in a story I did on the thorny issue for the newspaper as Abuja Bureau Chief: “What would you want the FEC to do after inauguration of the Council”, he asked. Which explained why an amendment Bill was sent to the Session of the National Assembly then.
Read Also – https://guardian.ng/opinion/
The amendment had sought to remove the power of Tenders approval from the Council and retain it in FEC.
Membership of the Council according to the Act should comprise 12 members to be appointed by the President. While six of the members are government officials, the other six are drawn from relevant professional organisations.
Those from the government side, considered permanent members, include the Minister of Finance, who serves as Chairman, and the Director General of the BPP as Secretary.
Others are the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of Service, and the Economic Adviser to the President.
Those representing professional bodies are drawn from the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigerian Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management, the Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture, the Nigeria Society of Engineers, a representative of Civil Society Organisations and the media.
The FEC, the constitution provides as Executive Council of the Federation is made up the president, the vice president, all the ministers and some presidential advisers; meaning the president and his political appointees who are all less likely to question his decisions.
The failure of the government to set up the Council has meant the FEC continues to approve contracts to be executed by its members.
It will be recalled that candidate Buhari had in a document circulated during the 2015 campaigns titled ‘My covenant with Nigerians’ promised to “inaugurate the National Council on Procurement as stipulated in the Procurement Act so that the Federal Executive Council, which has been turned to a weekly session of contract bazaar, will concentrate on its principal function of policy making”.
Although after assuming office, the president disowned the document. A fact check latershowed that the ruling All Progressives Congress wrote it.
The document was said to have been produced by the policy and research directorate of the APC presidential campaign, headed by current Minister of Solid Minerals Development and former Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, when the party was trying to convince Nigerians to abandon the then ruling party, PDP.
You will recall that I had on September 16, 2016 written on the same issue here in an article titled: “Where is the Public Procurement Council?
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