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Lawan hints at review of Public Procurement Act, says it breeds corruption

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Senate President Ahmad Lawan on Monday said that the 2007 Public Procurement Act must be reviewed and amended.

He said it was not the best in the world, adding that it creates room for corruption as well as hinder speedy project implementation in the country.

He spoke when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, visited him in Abuja.

He said, “The public procurement in Nigeria as far as I can see is not the best in the world. The public procurement must be reviewed and amended. We must see how we can make it more practical and holistic within the shortest possible time.

“From the stage of bidding to mobilization, the costing of any government contracts must be uniform in order to avoid imbalances and embarrassment in the processes.

“A situation where about twenty agencies of government buy the same brand of vehicles at grossly different prices is not good.

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“Market prices must be determined and adhered strictly to ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged through abuse of processes or over invoicing.

“Even the 15 per cent mobilisation fee specifies in the Act by realities on ground is more of demobilising contractors than mobilising them with attendant loopholes for fraudulent practices.”

On what the Senate under his leadership will to manage the act he said, “Our Public Procurement committee will be a very strong committee this time around. The cost of projects in Nigeria is mostly the highest in the world. We cannot continue like this, not in the face of very scarce resources.

“So, we are going to insist that the public procurement particularly is considered better than before. If there should be purchase of buses by ten or twenty ministries, the cost must be uniform so that we don’t drag into crisis on what we buy.

“The Procurement Committee when in place will make sure we work towards achieving this set agenda in order to avoid putting the public at disadvantaged position.”

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Speaking, Mustapha lauded Lawan for starting on what he described as a vibrant mood, noting Nigerian project is of great importance to the present administration.

He called on the members of the parliament to keep strengthening the ties with other arms of government so that the set agenda of the Buhari’s administration could be achieved in good time.

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