The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has said, it has commenced the process of amending the country’s procurement Act to bring it up to date with current realities.
This is even as it called on government agencies to emulate the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) in capacity building and compliance with procurement processes.
Speaking at a management retreat organised by NDIC in collaboration with the BPP, the director general of BPP, Mamman Ahmadu, noted that, the Procurement Act, which was enacted in 2007, is riddled with challenges presented by changing times.
Ahmadu, who was represented by BPP director, Compliance, Certification and Monitoring, Ishaq Yahaya, noted that, the BPP is already in talks with the National Assembly and is also in the process of crafting an executive bill to that effect.
On his part, the managing director of NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, noted that, the retreat had become necessary so as to engage the BPP as well as keep abreast with the development in the Procurement processes such as the recently published upward review of approval Threshold and its implications on Procurement.
“The aim of this management retreat is to ensure that participants acquaint themselves with salient provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and to have a greater understanding of the procurement processes. The desire for continued engagement and partnership with a critical stakeholder like the Bureau, stands as my unequivocal commitment and determination to ensure that the Corporation discharges its mandate successfully to the benefit of depositors and the nation’s financial system as a whole,” he stressed.
Continuing, the BPP boss said, “The Public Procurement Act was enacted in 2007 which is over a decade and we know thy there are certain challenges and issues that are in this act. As a result we are in the process of presenting an executive bill to the National Assembly for amendment in order for us to ease some of the challenges that we have seen in the act.
“We are also, in line with the objective d the Public Procurement Act which is efficiency and value for money in the process of building an e-procurement platform.” This he said would cut back on physical engagement and improve efficiency,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, he commended the management of the NDIC, noting that, it is the first agency in the country to build capacity of its staff on the latest issues in procurement procedures in 2022.
“The NDIC is the first agency of the federal government that is starting this year on this capacity building initiative. Starting early is commendable because that means they will be early to plan and early to achieve their objectives,” he said.
