The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN) has reaffirmed the need for urgent inauguration of the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) to curb corruption in the entire national system.
The CIPSMN President, Alhaji Sikiru Balogun made this known in Abuja on Saturday at the 14th Annual General Meeting of the institute.
Recall that the Public Procurement Act, which was signed into law by late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua on June 4, 2007, 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.
This is 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.
Balogun, while expressing concern over the inefficiencies in the implementation of the nation’s Appropriation Acts by successive administrations, called on President Bola Tinubu to look inward in order to clean the system.
According to him, the major problem in the system is giving personnel who are not inclined professionally in the field of procurement a task to do.
“We have been to the National Assembly making sure that the two bicameral legislative arms recognises us.
“This is also that with our law anybody who is not qualified by examination who is not satisfied by us to be competent should not be given any post to head any procurement department.
“We have observed that some people are mistaken and said purchasing is different from procurement, it is a big mistake.
“If you want to see it you can see it similar in meaning but purchasing is buying but procurement goes more than buying, it goes into the sourcing, negotiation and making sure it recognises the need,” he said.
He added that putting a square peg in a round hole had been a major problem that affect the conceptualisation of the country’s budget.
“When you say you want a borehole in a place where there is water before, is that right and the legislative arm has said it earlier that the BPP is a regulatory body for that of the National Procurement Council.
“The National Procurement Council till today is not established and we have called them to establish it but maybe because of some underlying tone the government has not done it and we are pushing that they should do.
“This is 2023, it’s gone now and we are going to another new year, before you plan any procurement you should have planning and we call them procurement planning committee where are they in the government service we are not recognised.
“But we are telling them though you have not been giving us our due, we are the people who are trained, who are certified by this professional body and we should be the one who should be handling procurement,” he said.
On his part, the institute Registrar, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu underscored the need to rid the country of corruption by ensuring that professionals manned relevant public offices.
“The dream of every organisation is to progress to the next level and as far as the institute is concerned not mindful of the number of people that are present we are making progress.
“This is simply because with our coming into the system since 2007 that the act was passed, we have made tremendous input because before then there was not an institute enabled by act to institute procurement policies and procedures.
” That is why I tell you that this institute is moving in the sense that you hear from every corner now that corruption is trying to overtake every body in Nigeria if not to consume everybody.
“This is simply because corruption has been on but the magnitude of it is now known because the act enabling the professional to come on board and be telling people that this things people are doing is not right that is why you are hearing everything that is unfolding itself,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Zonal Coordinator for North Central, Abdul Mamman, expressed concern with the way the BPP trained officers for one week and issued them certificate without them knowing the nitty-gritty of procurement.
Mamman explained that a good number of people today in the country saddled with procurement functions do not have the certification.
“On the issues of amendment being proposed to the Public Procurement Act, we tend to identify that as just a mistake on the part of government.
“Because the CIPSMN is the institute established to train, certified by examination, conduct research and also establish bodies of people with the knowledge that are required for you to propel the procurement practice in Nigeria.
“As at today, the executive order 5 that was passed by the last administration on Feb. 2, 2018 equally speaks to that effect whereas every professional in Nigeria should be recognised as it is done in other part.
“Specifically government intend to do amendment and we understand but one critical issue that government needs to know is that the people that are proposing this, have they participated in the implementation of budget from the start to the end.
“A good number of them do not understand what procurement is all about, they are looking at it on the surface as the process through which contract is made and awarded.
“The government committed a committee without mentioning the institute as a member of the committee to guide the conduct because there is the professional need for us to know.
“We can tell the story ourselves on how well the procurement law has fell and where there are gaps that needs to be blocked,” he said.
