Adeniyi appealed in a letter dated September 7, 2023, titled: "Appeal For Administrative Intervention In The Procurement System In Nigeria To Enhance Accountability, Transparency And Competitiveness With A View To Rescuing Local Contractors."
A Lagos-based lawyer, Adeniyi Taiwo Philip, has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to come to the rescue of local contractors by reforming the procurement system in the country to enhance accountability, transparency, and competitiveness.
Adeniyi appealed in a letter dated September 7, 2023, titled: "Appeal For Administrative Intervention In The Procurement System In Nigeria To Enhance Accountability, Transparency And Competitiveness With A View To Rescuing Local Contractors."
Lamenting the development in the procurement system, Adeniyi said that local contractors are being edged out because of endemic corruption occasioned by kickbacks. He added that the point that both local and foreign contractors as stated in Section 16(1) -(28) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 and other subsequent BPP guidelines state that all requirements are to be met by any contractor who desires to participate in procurement activities have been defeated by corruption.
"The local contractors are facing untold hardship due to corruption in the system as it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for any contractor to win a contract on merit in any MDA without prior arrangement with the authority of that entity.
"An average local contractor spends a whooping amount to update its papers annually but this is without hope of getting anything throughout the year. There are many MDAs that contractors always avoid due to their antecedents in the procurement process. Entities like Federal Government Colleges, Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) projects in any tertiary institutions, and NDDC, just to mention but a few.
"There are places where procurement outcomes are pre-determined or contractors are already assigned to the job even before it is advertised. Some heads of MDAs make contractors make returns in advance before award letters are issued. These contractors pay a huge sum of money to a nefarious cabal in TETFUND so that they can be selected for projects. Intelligent reports revealed that such an illegal arrangement is ongoing in one of the federal institutions in Ondo State.
"Similarly, constituency projects are either sold to contractors who sometimes may not be experienced in that field or trailing projects by contractors sent to the domicile MDAs by the members who insert the project into the budget. By this arrangement, it becomes impossible for any contractors, no matter how good their submission to win contracts.”
“Consequently, many abandoned/sub-standard projects do not just happen, they are caused by either the job being given to an inexperienced contractor or mostly by these same factors. For instance, when allegedly “pre-arranged” obligations are fulfilled, such a contractor may be left with very little to complete the project. When the reality becomes obvious either they walk away or settle for sub-standard jobs and cheap materials to just obtain a Certificate of Completion to enable them to qualify for another round of procurement activities, In such a circumstance, qualities are waved as money is exchanged hands and at the end, the government takes the blame and the loss either by way of coping with the sub-standard job or recycling budget.
"Many projects captured as ongoing in the budget are most time not so but pipelines siphon public funds through projects that deliberately frustrate its completion. Also, this has thrown many into the labour market as many local contractors who have tried several times to bid for a job without success cannot meet their obligations to their workforce they have no choice but to lay them off.
“A stitch in time saves nine," he said, appealing that the government should not wait till "these negative trends begin to play out before actions are taken".
He recommended the following steps: "Innovative Civil Service Reforms. Introduction of non-compromised technology that enhances compliance and detects a breach of existing laws. Gradual reduction of human interface and paperwork in the procurement processes (for example, in some private sectors that run fully automated operations the systems are programmed with full compliance to their rules.
"It cannot be manipulated by anyone and where there is a breach the system blocks you immediately and reports to the central body). And finally, commitment to sanction erring public officers and conniving contractors through arrest and prosecution in accordance with the rule of law."
The petition was copied to all the anti-graft agencies in the country.