1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
Government all over the world has a common purpose which is to care for its citizens. This purpose has been seen by many to constitute the sine-qua-non for the existence of any government. However, the achievement of this objective has been bedeviled by corruptions and irregularities in the activities and business of government (Nwafor, 2013). In order to restore the lost confidence of the citizens on the activities and process of government, policies and enactments such as the Public Procurement Act 2007 was established to curb the excesses in government activities and business with a view to ensuring proper regulation in the procurement process. Also government must ensure transparency and accountability in its dealings both in business transaction and non-business activities (Adewole, 2014).
Probity is believed to be the ultimate aim of providing for the happiness and welfare of the citizenry and should be the emphasis in the public life (Fayomi, 2013). Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has passed through military and civilian rule, the military are authoritative and rule with decree and the civilian are less authoritative and govern with the constitution and the laws made by the legislature (Jacob, 2010). Both style of ruling engaged in businesses which the large part is the award of contract (Jacob, 2010). The process of awarding these contracts are usually questionable as most of the rich men and women today became rich overnight upon the execution of government contracts. The irregularities in this process can be said to be the main cause of the underdevelopment in this part of the world.
According to Ray (1998) to achieve development, requires making some hard choice, punching and jettisoning old methods of doing things that have contributed to underdevelopment. Prior to 2007, to regulate the award of contracts was difficult as there was no direct statutory provision for it in Nigeria and the result is that the award of contract becomes a means by which the government and the ruling elites reward their friends and cronies and by which they too amass wealth (Jacob, 2010). At this time it was extremely difficult to get best value for money in public procurement practices (Onyekpere, 2009).
Federal government of Nigeria under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration seeing the level of corruption in the public procurement process, commission World Bank to carry out an investigation into Nigeria procurement process. At the end of the investigation, World Bank came up with a report called Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR). The report revealed that Nigeria was losing average of $10 billion annually due to various irregularities associated with public procurement and contract awards. As responds to these problems public procurement bill was sent to national assembly under President Olusegun Obasanjo regime and was eventually pass into law under the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua administration (Adewole, 2014).
Therefore, in Bureau of Public Procurement where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Public Procurement Act on the Procurement Process in Nigeria Public Sector.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The early oil boom for Nigeria in 1970s saw the country rack in so much money which had led to her mismanagement of the resources. There have been existing open abuses to rules and standards in the award and execution of public contracts in Nigeria. These were evident in over-invoicing, inflation of contract costs, and proliferation of white-elephant projects and diversion of public funds through all kinds of manipulation of contract system. The regulatory bodies that were set up to ensure compliance with laid down rules and regulations on procurement and award of contracts in the public sector appeared weak and ineffective.
This resulted in a high level of corruption and enormous wastage of public resources, lack of transparency, accountability, fairness and openness. The situation made foreign and even local investors to lose confidence in the Nigerian economy. It must be noted that the prevailing high level of corruption was closely linked up with the public sector procurement systems, and considering that about ten percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) must pass through the procurement systems. It then became imperative that the public procurement systems must be reformed if Nigeria must achieve economic growth and developmental strides in this new millennium. It is on this premise that this study was undertaken to examine the impact of public procurement act on the procurement process in Nigeria public sector.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Public Procurement Act on the Procurement Process in Nigeria Public Sector using Bureau of Public Procurement as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To find out if there are existing laws guiding procurement procedures in the public sector.
- To determine if the laws guiding the public sector procurement process is effective.
- To examine the impact of the public procurement Act on the procurement process in the public sector.
1.4 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does a procurement procedure in the public sector exist?
- Is Public Procurement Act weak and ineffective on the Procurement process in the Public sector?
- Does public procurement Act impact the procurement process in the public sector?
- What are the laws guiding the public sector procurement process is effective?
