The director-general of the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Emeka Ezeh, said on Tuesday that no federal government organisation, including the National Assembly, is exempted from the Public Procurement Act.
Ezeh said this when a delegation of the Public Complaints Commission, PCC, visited the bureau in Abuja.
He said the Procurement Act of 2007 covers all federal ministries, extra-ministerial offices, departments and other public entities set up by the Constitution or Act of the National Assembly, and that organisations, whether funded from the federation account, or from their own internally generated revenue, were mandated by law to go through the BPP for any purchase.
“A lot of people are misinformed about the Procurement Act. It took a while for people to begin to understand our powers. At a time, the Supreme Court, National Assembly thought they were exempted from the law but Section 15 of the Act states clearly that all Federal Government institutions are covered by this. What constitutes the Federal Government of Nigeria? Is it not the executive, legislative and the judiciary? If this is so, then it means nobody is exempted,” he explained.
Ezeh said further that said the bureau had set up a training school to sensitise relevant officers in government ministries, departments and agencies on the Procurement Act.
Earlier, the chairman sub-committee on budget implementation, PCC, Clement Obere, said the commission visited BPP to solicit for training on right procurement practice.
“We have come here to request for training on procurement processes for the officers in our commission and for us in the committee on budget implementation. We want to know the necessary steps to take in procurement, so that we don’t fall foul of the law,” he said.