Buhari urged to beam searchlight on BPP activities

Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu

Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu, Registrar, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to closely monitor the activities of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to avoid economic waste.

Aliyu who made the call in Abuja at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Institute, noted that government can effectively supervise activities of BPP when the National Council on Public Procurement had been inaugurated.

He said that the nonexistence of the council seems to have cast a shadow on the activities and decisions of BPP, going by the law establishing it and CIPSMN.

“BPP has gone beyond their brief and their respective mandate in the law as created because when you look at the content of the act establishing it, you will see that its function is tied to the whims and caprices of the national council.

“The council is supposed to regulate the activities of the BPP but you ask yourself why it has not been inaugurated till today.

“Immediately this administration came on board, we tabled the matter so that we can operate optimally and play our role as it should, and as enshrined in the law establishing the BPP and CIPSMN.

“This could have helped the present government to correct the wrongs of past governments.

“They showed the willingness to inaugurate the council but up till now, nothing has happened; it is just like giving a goat to somebody and then, you still hold the rope back. That is what we see playing out,” Aliyu said.

According to the registrar, efforts to draw the attention of members of the National Assembly who enacted the laws establishing BPP did not yield any meaningful result as the lawmakers are yet to act.

Aliyu called on the government to ensure that professionals and competent people were saddled with the responsibility of superintending public offices to avoid waste.

Mr Abdul Mamman, the Zonal Coordinator of CIPSMN in North Central, regretted that the activities of the institute founded in 1974 and registered 10 years later, was being narrowed because of the absence of the Council.

He pointed out that the proliferation of bodies in the profession had also hindered its activities which ordinarily would have been managed by the national council.

“National Council on Public Procurement is key to realising the set goals of BPP and CIPSMN because we have a law which states that the National Council on Public Procurement must have a composition including the Minister of Finance.

“The council also has in it Attorney General of the Federation, SGF, Head of Service, Economic Adviser to the President and six part-time members from professional bodies.

“The bodies are CIPSMN, Nigeria Bar Association, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Civil Society as well as the Media.

“These individuals and organisations make up the National Council on Public Procurement and are to churn out the policies that guide what BPP does, but as at today, BPP is all in all.

“This is a violation of the first letter of the National Council on Public Procurement Act, and as a result of that, we are in a dilemma,” Mamman said.

He urged the executive and the legislature to ensure that the Executive Order 5 was followed to the later concerning procurement to enable the country to achieve the positive result desired for the economy.

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