NIGERIA PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT AND THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION: IDENTIFYING THE MISSING LINK

Abstract

Developing countries such as Nigeria have a common enemy of economic, social and political development – corruption. The need to end corruption was one of the major reasons the military gave for forcefully taking over the seat of government in Nigeria. Even when the country returned to civil rule, opposition parties have accused the government in power of mismanagement of public funds and often promised to end corruption if elected into power. It is an incontrovertible truth that one area where corruption exists in Nigeria is Public Procurement. However, in 2007 the Nigerian government enacted the Public Procurement Act (PPA) to battle corruption in its procurement process. Despite this, the nation's procurement process is still characterized by irregularities as evident from the many cases of infractions of the procurement guidelines in some government quarters. This paper undertakes a review of the PPA (2007) vis-à-vis its provisions on anti-corruption in comparison with international best practices to identify any missing link. The study reveals that though the PPA has improved the procurement process in Nigeria, it cannot sufficiently eliminate fraud and corrupt practices because it has some loopholes. These loopholes include, amongst others: non-provision for an automated tendering system, passive roles played by the civil society organizations/ professional bodies in procurement implementation and the absence of an independent administrative review body. The study, therefore, recommends the reform of the PPA which will incorporate the identified missing links to battle corruption in public procurement effectively.