Ex-BPSR Boss Seeks Transparency in Govt Procurement Processes

.Says officials still abusing COVID-19 emergency arrangements rules

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former Director General of the Bureau of Public Sector Reforms (BPSR), Dr. Joe Abah, has called for more transparency in government procurement processes, stressing that despite the end of COVID-19, some officials were still deploying the emergency procurement arrangement to circumvent laid down processes.

Abah spoke at a one-day stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja themed: ‘Public Procurement and Good Governance in Nigeria’ organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA).

The lawyer recalled that in 2000, the World Bank did a country procurement assessment for Nigeria, showing that of every N1 that the government was spending, 60 per cent was being fraudulently taken away.

At the time, he noted that it was calculated that Nigeria was losing about $10 billion every year to procurement fraud, prompting the setting up a government enterprise intelligence unit in the year 2003, which eventually developed into the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in 2007.

Since then, he stressed that the BPP had continued to announce significant savings that it’s achieving for Nigeria, with a claim that it saved the country at least $25 billion every year as a result of its activities.

Abah argued that it was virtually impossible to perpetrate grand corruption without procurement, explaining that as much as 60 per cent of corruption cases border on procurement infractions.

The Country Director, Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), expressed the belief that if not for the modest efforts of the BPP, it would have been much worse.

The former BPSR boss stated that the BPP was set up to create a level playing field in which everybody could compete equally as Nigerians for government contracts as well as minimise procurement fraud so that people don’t inflate figures.

“So it wanted to make sure that government actually does not only get value for the money that it spends, but also gives all eligible Nigerians an opportunity to compete for government contracts.

“Because without that, without a level playing field, it would simply just be the cronies of people in power get government contracts and just split the benefits,” he emphasised .

However, he stressed that government officials have also blamed the bureau for constraining and indeed slowing down the pace that the government is supposed to be moving.

“We need to ensure that procurement is transparent, it is properly done, constrains theft, and provides a level playing field. On the other hand, we don’t want people to blame this system that has all these noble intentions for our inability to speed up development,” he argued.

According to him, at the time COVID-19 hit Nigeria, the emergency procurement arrangement that was established is still being abused by some government officials today.

“With COVID came the excuse for emergency procurement. And believe it or not, in 2024, people are still using COVID emergency procurement to bypass the system. That is still happening, unfortunately.

“ So what was supposed to be a brief allowance to enable materials like vaccines and protective equipment and all of those things to fight COVID has of course been abused by a lot of people. And there’s a need to focus on that,” he emphasised.

Also speaking, CSEA Director, Chukwuma Onyekwena, said the programme was organised in collaboration with Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings, Stellenbosch University, African Procurement Law Unit, with funding from MacArthur Foundation.

Through applied research and presentation of policy options, he said CSEA strives to enhance macroeconomic stability, fiscal transparency, and accountability.