University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

More documents

Recommendations

Info

132 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNAL DECEMBER 2010 framework, organizational responsibilities and capabilities, and present procedures and practices, including how these may differ from the formal rules and procedures. The World Bank report was damning, it notes that: 1 “About 50% of projects in Nigeria are dead even before they commence ... the projects are designed to fail because the objective is not to implement them, but to use them as vehicles for looting of the public treasury ... Instead of adding value, they become economic drain pipes.” It was rightly observed that the government functionaries were involved in the awards of public contracts and a new legal regime that will eschew that abnormality was advocated by the report: “Members of the Federal Tender Board are Ministers who due to their political role shall not and cannot be expected to deal with details in procurement procedures. It is therefore considered that the Federal Tender Board does not add value to the procurement process. High level politicians such as Governors, Ministers and Commissioners should use their valuable time for major policy and strategic issues rather than approving contract awards. Elected officials are responsible for allocation of resources but the mechanics of spending these resources should follow laid down procurement regulations and procedures.” 2 Rather than enacting a statutory legislation to regulate public contracts, the government took a step to check the abuse in the system by establishing the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) in the Presidency with an objective among others to ensure that merit and due diligence are adhered to in the award and execution of contracts, procurement of products and services. 3 However on the 4th of June 2007, the then president of Nigeria President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua signed into law the Public Procurement Act (PPA) which is the first procurement law in the history of Nigeria. The purpose of the Act is to ensure transparency, competitiveness, value for money and professionalism in the public sector procurement system. 4 The Act 1 See Nigeria: Country Procurement Assessment Report Volume 1 and 2 - http://www-wds.worldbank.org/ external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2001/06/08/000094946_01053004 [site visited on 2 September, 2010]. 2 Id. 3 The Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) serves as a “vanguard of ensuring fiscal transparency, strict compliance with Federal Government guidelines on Due Process Certification as it concerns budgeting for and procurement of facilities/services/contracts at appropriate costs(Ezekwesili, 2005. 4 Section 4[1] of the Act.
PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 133 provides for the establishment of the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as regulatory authorities responsible for oversight, management and monitoring of public procurement practices and system. Though the new legal regime takes effect immediately as it should, we observe lack of total commitment on the path of the federal government to fully comply with the regulations enshrined in the Act. The problem lies with the issue of government involvement, whether they [government functionaries] should disengage from procurement process or not is an underlying question the government is not comfortable with. The argument of the government functionaries is that they must be involved in the procurement process in order to safeguard public resources 5 but the report of the World Bank nullified this argument: “Politicians in Nigeria would argue that it is their responsibility to safeguard public resources by ensuring that corruption is minimised in the procurement process. However, what is most critical is to build legitimacy in the procurement process through appropriate legislation and regulations and not direct involvement in the procurement process. This legitimacy is very important for both civil servants and the politicians because they, in the end, need to be able to work in a system where the public has faith in what is going on and where they can account for their dispositions.” As of today, the greatest challenge for the enforcement of procurement law in Nigeria is the involvement of the government functionaries in the procurement process and this is possible because the government has not fully implemented the provisions of the Act. Should the government who initiated the enactment of the Act fail to fully implement it? That lackadaisical move on the part of the government is worrisome but not unpredictable. A clue to the reason behind their conduct could be deduced from the history of the PPA itself. It takes the government almost seven years to enact this law. This writer finds out that partial implementation or dragging of feet in enacting the law is actuated by the desire of the political class in the government not to lose the means to award contracts to their cronies. This article discusses the challenge for the attainment of the lofty objectives of the PPA. It observes with chagrin that three years since the Act has taken effect, the Federal Government has not fully implemented it. The implications of that partial implementation of the Act are examined and recommendations offered. This article is divided in to eight parts. The first part is an introduction while the second part examines the statutory objectives of the 5 See World Bank report volume 2 page 39 supra note1.
Page 2 and 3:
UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNAL
Page 4 and 5:
2 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNA
Page 6 and 7:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
10 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURN
Page 14 and 15:
Page 16 and 17:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24 and 25:
Page 26 and 27:
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 41 and 42:
The right to maternal health care:
Page 43 and 44:
THE RIGHT TO MATERNAL HEALTH CARE 4
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84: Between judicial enabling and adver
Page 85 and 86: UNREPRESENTED ACCUSED IN BOTSWANA 8
Page 117: UNREPRESENTED ACCUSED IN BOTSWANA 1
Page 120 and 121: 118 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOUR
Page 133: Procurement law in Nigeria: Challen
Page 137 and 138: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 135 Bure
Page 139 and 140: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 137 To f
Page 141 and 142: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 139 Obje
Page 143 and 144: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 141 work
Page 145 and 146: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 143 What
Page 147 and 148: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 145 Anot
Page 149 and 150: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 147 foun
Page 151 and 152: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 149 due
Page 153: PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 151 8. C
Page 171 and 172: 169 Limits of fair dealing with lit
Page 173 and 174: LITERARY WORKS IN INDIA 171 Section
Page 175 and 176: LITERARY WORKS IN INDIA 173 tilt ag
Page 177: LITERARY WORKS IN INDIA 175 purpose
Page 184 and 185:
182 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOUR
Page 187 and 188:
185 1. INTRODUCTION ZIMBABWE J. Pfu
Page 189 and 190:
RECENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS - ZIMBABW
Page 191 and 192:
RECENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS - ZIMBABW
Page 193 and 194:
UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNAL
show all

University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?