Former President Olusegun Obasanjo began the Public Procurement reform race in 1999. The reform flowed with the new freedom heralded by the dawn of democracy. That freedom is embedded in the pursuit of happiness and prosperity. Then transparency, accountability, quality and competition come as added advantages. These are envisaged as ideal tenets of democracy and promoted in the bastions of egalitarianism the world over. The new Nigeria in 1999 sought a multidimensional embrace of virtues and values associated with good governance. The introduction of the Public Procurement principles and practices was one of them.
Somewhat complicated in interpretation, the Due Process, sing song came as a mantra that simplified it. The implication: let there be methods in how public funds are expected. And let there be a system familiar to every interested person on how contracts are awarded. Favouritism, nepotism, tribalism, ethnicism, regionalism, cultural and religious considerations should not be part of reasons for the award of contracts. Parties should be invited to bid, to compete and let a deserving winner emerge from the matrix.
Though hardly acknowledged in public discourse on the evolution of the process, Steve Oronsaye, was initially in charge of the course. Obiagelli Ezekwesilie marshalled the campaign from another beginning that was heartening to folks concerned about getting things right in the land. With the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and other multilateral organisations backing the process, the rhythm of Due Process resonated from one end of the country to the other.
A statutory backing was eventually desired if the system was to be taken more seriously. The National Assembly waited in the wings for the bill to legitimise this campaign. It came in good time, meandered through the usual back and forth of law making, witnessing lobbying, convolutions, giving and taking, before late President Umar Musa Yar’adua signed it into law. Infact, the first law to be so signed by that president. The existing Budget Implementation and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), which Oronsaye, Ezekwesilie, and later Professor Kunle Ade-Wahab, had, at one time or the other, led mutated into the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in the new lawful arrangement.
Accomplished engineer, public administrator motivator and philosopher, Emeka Muomah Ezeh, who shortly before the signing of the law took the baton of leading the Due Process office graduated into the Director General of the new BPP. He had the task of consolidating the gains of the ongoing reform, thus far. Other tasks came aplenty. First, a multi-ethnic populace had to be educated on the change from one body to the other. Second, the etymology of the acronym of the new BPP had to be defined from the similar Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). Third, the intricacies, principles and practices of Public Procurement had to be broken down into understandable formats. Fourth, stakeholders, procuring entities, foreign partners and implementing agents have to be carried along. Fifth, how about dealing with infractions on the rules, to wit, bid rigging, false declarations, inflation of worth, forgeries, etc.? How do you manage pressures from influential quarters to circumvent procedures for personal, or group gains? What about the natural reluctance by some powerful to resist change, or be feel irritated by unfavourable change? On the last poser, recall the saying of Aung San Suu Kyi that “Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” Then how about the psychological effect of seeing billion dollar wastes, that would probably have gone undetected? Though seemingly basis, the complications of managing personnel, ever exposed to temptations, in a regulatory or quasi-judicial organisation concerned with the administration of a contracting process couldn’t be less herculean. Regardless, the work has to be done. And the beat has been on, under the present apostle, Emeka Ezeh.
While the sing song of procurement was going loud at the Federal level, the states could not be bothered in the first instance. After all, ours is a federal arrangement where states have some degree of independence in the enactment of laws. They could not be corralled into adopting the law as the federal government has done, or literally whipped into the procurement procedures line. They were however not deaf to the drumbeats of transparency, accountability, quality and competition coming in from the centre. Those values were, of course, innately ideal for good governance, and for a conscientious and reform minded government.
The World Bank which was active in the evolution at the central government also pushed some listening states to follow the procurement line. Soon, some states started catching the bug. Lagos, Bayelsa, Taraba, Rivers, Delta and Kaduna, amongst many others joined the fray. At the last count, twenty four (24) states have either adopted the law, constructed their own version, or set up units concerned about methods in the expenditure of public funds. These departments are either headed by a director-general, a special assistant or adviser, or a secretary. It all depends on the preference of the state in view. Nomenclature regardless, the states were freeing up spaces for the expression of contracting interests. Questions might still be asked about the seriousness of some of the states in terms of implementation, the point was nevertheless being made that it was sensible to associate with quality management and allocation of resources-core values of the procurement reform.
And now, about thirteen years after the reform began at the centre, and seven years after the federal government signed the Public Procurement Act, a partnership is emerging. This partnership is evident in the new synergy between the Federal and the State Government in the development of Public Procurement principles and practices. According to Senior Special Assistant, Due Process, to the Delta State Governor, Arinola Giwa Amu, an attorney-at-Law, who lately announced the birth of the Federal and State union on the procurement reform “we are convinced that the procurement reform will grow better if awareness is continuously created amongst public procurement functionaries. Though Nigeria has a federal system of government, where the federating units have rights to enact and implement independent laws, the Federal and the state governments have however decided to come together under this forum in the greater interest of the country”
According to her, while President Goodluck Jonathan, will formally launch the forum, at an upcoming November conference, under the BPP chaired National Public Procurement Forum (NPPF), it is a union between Public Procurement entities at the Federal and State levels in a renewed bid to forge a working relationships at key tiers of government. To comprise of procurement heads representing each of the 6 geo-political zones, and the BPP at the Federal, membership of the forum from the geo-political zones will be rotational and be determined within each of the Zones. Representatives from all the states of the federation and the Federal Government will constitute the forum. “It is important to state that the public procurement reform in Nigeria has come to stay. This is because it is one sure way to ensure transparency, competition and quality in the public contracting system. Developing nations of the world are partly defined by their commitment to due process. We cannot afford to be left behind! One sure way of ensuring progress in the implementation of the public procurement procedures is to have a synergy between all levels Government in its application”
The inference of this is multileveled. One, an avenue for bonding in a development area is being created. Two, thoughts are bound to be expanded as tiers of government come together to share implementation experiences, to compare notes on challenges and to chart ways forward. Three, a meaning is constructed in the ability of government tiers to partner in areas other than politics. Four, public procurement as a tool of good governance is capable of uniting government arms even in a complex entity like Nigeria. Five, states still not in tune are likely to be encouraged, and six, public procurement, transparency and openness consciousness and awareness are bound to grow amongst the populace. These should all add up to raising the nation’s development bar.
The benefits of this new synergy, which implicates a new stage in the fruition of Public Procurement in Nigeria tend to outweigh any downsides now weaved around fears over one arm lording itself over the other. Reason being that the union is voluntary, expository, and advisory, more for the greater good, than a pander to parochialism. “Democracy” Atifete Jahjaga after once told us “must be built through open societies that share information. When there is information, there is enlightenment. When there is debate, there are solutions. When there is no sharing of power, no rule of law, no accountability, there is abuse, corruption, subjugation and indignation” It is, perhaps, a time to deal.
Dr. Adeniyi, Communication and Knowledge Management Consultant, wrote in from Abuja.
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