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Constitute National Council
on Public Procurement Now!....New Procurement
Anti-Corruption Group
tells
FG
Newsdiaryonline Sat Feb
26,2011
Related :Full
text of Mohammed Attah's welcome Address
The Federal Government
of Nigeria has been advised for the umpteenth time, to formally
constitute and inaugurate the National Council on Public
Procurement (NCPP) as part of its anti-corruption campaign and
in compliance with the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007.
This was the opinion of
over 50 members of the Nigeria civil society who attended the
formal public presentation of Procurement Observation and
Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN) on Thursday March 24. According to
them, the non-inauguration of the Council was not only illegal
but has opened the procurement process to abuse.
Speaking at the event,
the National Coordinator of PRADIN, Mr. Mohammed Bougei Attah
said that procurement accounts for over 70% of government
activities adding that the absence of the Council was of serious
concern which raised a doubt on government commitment to
anti-corruption policy. Mr. Attah declared the commitment of
PRADIN to partner with the government to enthrone a transparent
and accountable procurement regime in the country. According to
him “our organization will fully support the Federal Government
initiatives for procurement reforms”
Also speaking at the
launch of the group, the Chairman of the occasion, former
Executive Director, Political and Civic Education at the
National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Lanre Adebayo said the
event is a sign of momentous shift from the usual alluded
believe of confrontation between government and civil society,
to collaboration between the two organs as a means to fighting
corruption. He therefore commended PRADIN and the partners,
particularly the professional bodies and NGOs for their
steadfast in pursuing the ideals of civil society agenda.
In a similar vein, the
House of Representative Committee Chairman on Procurement, Hon.
Yusuf Maitama Tuggar commended the group for coming at a time
that Nigeria’s image is at stake at the international arena due
to corruption. He maintained that corruption can be reduced to
its barest minimum if only government will do the right thing.
He was in agreement with other speakers, particularly the
National Coordinator of PRADIN; that the failure of the
government to inaugurate the NCPP is a fundamental breach of the
law and does encourages corruption in the system. He restated
the fact that the National Assembly has repeatedly written to
the President and the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation on the need to constitute and inaugurate the Council
over a year ago.
In his goodwill message, the Director
General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Engr. Emeka
Ezeh commended the group and their efforts in curbing corruption
through transparent procurement system in the Nigeria. He said
that CSOs in Nigeria has not fully taken advantage of the
opportunities and powers within the enabling laws to
effectively, especially citing Section 19 (b) of the PPA that
gives CSOs the ultimate powers to observe all the processes
without hindrance.
He therefore urged PRADIN as a legal association of non-state
actors to be more vigilant as well as take the fight against
corruption beyond the federal level to the states.
As part of their contribution to
fight corruption, the President of
CIPSMN pledged the Institutes continuous support to the group,
public officers and other civil society practitioners’ in the
area of capacity to enable them effectively engage the process.
He said during a goodwill message that the Institute was glad
for their participation in the training of the group and would
extend similar to other with similar ideals.
PRADIN is a select group
of civil society actors trained under the Federal Government of
Nigeria Economic Reforms and Governance Program (ERGP) with
funding from the World Bank. The project was conceived by the
Office of the Adviser to the President on Relations with Civil
Society and with technical support from the Bureau of Public
Procurement (BPP) and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and
Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN). The 35-member team went
through rigorous six-month training in the management and
application of purchasing and supply chain as it relates to
observation and monitoring of procurement proceedings and
processes.
The event which
featured participants from the public, private and the
non-profit sectors had some key government agencies in
attendance, including the Nigeria Extractive Industry
Transparency Initiative (NIETI) and the Director General of the
National Orientation Agency and representative of Katsina State
government among others.
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