University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

PROCUREMENT LAW IN NIGERIA 141
works or services are only available from one source or that supervening
events or catastrophic circumstances make the need for them so expedient that
a recourse in to other methods of procurement apart from direct procurement
will be unrealistic. On the grounds of either reasonableness of the price,
unsuitability of alternatives to the goods or services in question or national
security the method can still be adopted.
In the same way, procuring entity may engage in direct contracting
of goods, works and services during emergency situations when the country is
either seriously threatened by or actually confronted with a disaster,
catastrophe, war, insurrection or Act of God or when the condition or quality
of goods, equipment, building or publicly owned capital goods may seriously
deteriorate unless corrective or remedial action is urgently and necessarily
taken to maintain them in their actual value or usefulness or when a public
project may be seriously delayed for want of an item of a minor value that
ought to be procured. 44 Though immediately after the cessation of the
situation which led to the emergency procurement, the procuring entity must
give a detailed report of procurement made to the BPP for verification and if
necessary the BPP will issue a Certificate of No Objection. 45
4. SCOPE, COVERAGE AND APPLICATION
Nigeria is a Federal Republic with a federal system of government. It consists
of thirty six states and a federal capital territory in Abuja. Power is divided
between the states and the federal government. The legislative power of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria is vested by the Constitution in the National
Assembly of the federation which consists of the Senate and the House of
Representatives. 46 The National Assembly has constitutional power to make
law for the whole of the federation in any matter included in the exclusive
legislative list 47 The power to make law in any of the states of the federation is
vested in the House of Assembly of each state 48 The House of Assembly has
power to make law in any matter not included in the Exclusive list. 49 Both the
states and the national assembly’s can make laws in any matter that fall within
the concurrent list with a proviso that if there is inconsistency between the law
made by the federal legislature and the one made by the states, the law made
44 Id. Section 43.
45 Id.
46 See Section 4[1] of the 1999 Constitution.
47 The states could not legislate on any matter in the excusive list. Some of the matters are Aviation matters,
Bankruptcy and Insolvency, Census, Copyright, Defence, Creation of states, Citizenship etc.
48 See section 4 [6] and [7] of the 1999 Constitution.
49 Id. Section 4[7] of the Constitution, this is called Residual power of the states to make laws in the area of
chieftaincy matters etc.