Mohammed Bougei Attah, National Coordinator, Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN), has said that the Federal Government is deliberately engaging in institutional sabotage of the procurement reform agenda following its failure to inaugurate the National Council for Public Procurement in the country.
Expressing this in a statement on Tuesday,Attah said the development has resulted in a systemic capture of the public procurement process by vested political and bureaucratic interests.
He also said the non-inauguration of the National Council for Public Procurement (NCPP) effectively cripples the governance architecture envisaged by the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 .
This, he said, leaves the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in a state of legal limbo, operating without its supervising Council and therefore undermining its credibility and authority.
He added:”This has created a void resulting in regulatory paralysis: because the NCPP is the policy-making and oversight body.Legitimacy crisis: actions of the BPP (regulation, certification, review) lack statutory backing without council approval.”
He also reasoned that the action has caused loss of accountability on account of absence of institution to review or sanction Ministries and Agencies over procurement breaches.
According to him, 70% of public-sector corruption now linked to procurement due to the deliberate gap, adding that it has impacted service delivery as well as eroded erosion of public trust.