One of the attractions in the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign was the promise to constitute the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) if voted into power.
The party had, in the course of the campaigns, flayed the practice of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) routinely awarding contracts at the end of its weekly meetings. The widely-circulated APC campaign document affirmed that the FEC did not have the capacity to assess contract papers and promised that the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), working under the NCPP, would be quickly made to do its job.
The NCPP, like the BPP, was created by the Public Procurement Act, 2007. The act was signed into law by the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, who however, surprisingly stopped short of implementing it. His successor, President Goodluck Jonathan, also ignored the act.
Critics are of the view that politicians have shied away from constituting the Council because they do not want to lose the corrupt benefits that come from the direct award of contracts. The rationale of ministers assessing and awarding contract bids which are also implemented by them clouds transparency. Ministers lack the requisite technical capacity to assess contract bids, a specialised job the BPP, working under the supervision of the NCPP is better equipped to handle.
The involvement of the FEC in the award of contracts is, in fact, the reason why the country is full of abandoned projects. Apart from the lack of capacity of the FEC to properly assess tender bids, these contracts are promptly abandoned when those who awarded them are no longer in power.
The APC in its manifesto pledged that the Federal Executive Council under its administration will instead of becoming a platform for contract bazaars, incline itself to policy formulation and implementation as provided by law.
It is, however, a matter of great lamentation that 19 months after the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration came to power, nothing has changed. The regime has spent 40% of its lifespan, and it is yet to institute a standard of ensuring that contracts are devoid of corruption and executed conclusively according to specifications, irrespective of who awarded them. We call on President Buhari to immediately constitute this Council and mainstream it into his touted war on corruption since it is one of the means by which corruption can be curbed even before it takes place.
When corruption is fought through this institutional means there would be no need to raid people’s homes at night to recover “looted public funds”.
With two years almost gone, time is running out, and this regime must implement its promise of change in all sectors. Otherwise it will justify the accusation that it sold dummies just to win votes.
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