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Thursday, March 1, 2012

SENATE PRESIDENT DAVID MARK



It is illegal for FEC to be awarding contracts

The Senate has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently inaugurate the National Council of Public Procurement to regulate government’s expenditure.

This became necessary as the Senate was told it is illegal for the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to be awarding contracts, instead of the Council of Public Procurement as stipulated by the Public Procurement Act.

Members of the Senate made the call during deliberation, after Ahmed Lawan told the upper legislative house that the absence of the National Council of Public Procurement has rendered operation of the Public Procurement Act ineffective.

According to Senator Lawan, “the act is ineffective because the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) is not backed by law and designed to function alone, since the directors of the BPP are supposed to be appointed by the council.”

Ahmed further noted that “operations of the BPP have not resolved the challenges that characterize the procurement process in the Federal Government contract award due to partial execution of the act.”

The Public Procurement Act was passed by the National Assembly in 2007 and the executive has failed to implement the law which stipulates the inauguration of the National Council on public Procurement.

The council is supposed to monitor, regulate and set the standards for public procurement in Nigeria.

Contributing to the debate, Senator Alli Atai Idoko declared that what the FEC does by giving out contracts every week is illegal.

“The president must implement this because everything that is being done concerning procurement is illegal.

President the Federal executive Council sits down in council and approves contact it is illegal and unfair. This is the job of the council for procurement” he stated.

Erring executive

The Senate President in his contribution to the debate also condemned the failure of the presidency in obeying the Public Procurement Act.

He noted that the executive arm of government has been “doing the wrong thing and they have to be told that in a very clear term.”

But Majority leader of the Senate, Victor Indoma Egba explains that the President’s non inauguration of the council was not deliberate and it was an innocent oversight.

However Senator Idoko disagreed with the Senate leader’s assumption, saying “five years is too long to consider as an oversight.”

The lawmakers unanimously expressed their displeasure at what seems to be the executive failure to take motions passed by the Senate seriously with Senator Abdul Ningi leading the charge that “questions must be asked when resolutions are passed and nobody says anything about it.”

The Senate consequently urged President Goodluck Jonathan to inaugurate the National Council on Public Procurement and also constitute the BPP.

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