The Senate on Thursday passed a bill to re-enact the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
The law, among other things, will mandate government procurement at all levels to give priority to locally-made products.
The passage of this bill by federal lawmakers followed the conclusion of the report of the Senate Committee on Public Procurement which was led by Senator Joshua Dariye.
The bill was titled, “A Bill for an Act to amend The Public Procurement Act to provide for and adopt a local content policy and timely completion of procurement processes and other related matters.”
Dariye noted that the bill, when assented to, would amend relevant sections of the 2007 Procurement Act to favour the patronage of local manufacturers and ensure speedy completion of projects.
According to him, the bill seeks to amend Section 15(1) of the Act by inserting additional clauses that will close the gap created by the Act, which is currently encouraging sharp practices in government’s procurement processes.
Dariye said, “Similarly, the issue of disposal, which is an integral aspect of procurement, has been aptly captured by the amendment in the new sub-clause 1(e). The committee has equally sustained the amendments of Section 34(1, 2) sought by the bill for the purpose of patronising made in Nigeria goods; this will go a long way to encourage our Nigerian manufacturers.
“The amendment proposed by the bill in Section 35 is to review upwards the mobilisation fee from 15 per cent to 25 per cent that may be paid to a supplier or contractor. This is aimed at enhancing timely completion of procurement processes at various phases.”
The Senate also approved the inclusion of Nigerian Institute of Architects and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors as members of the National Council on Public Procurement.
According to the Nigerian senate president, Bukola Saraki, the new amendments to the Act would help stimulate the nation’s economy.
“We all have a role to play to ensure that the Executive complies, especially in the area of giving priority to locally-produced goods. This has helped many countries to develop when they had issues of downturn in their economies.” He said.
