Former Minister of Education and first Director General of Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, yesterday, advised President Goodluck to stop presiding over meetings that involved award of contracts.

She also urged members of the National Assembly to kick against the proposed amendment to the Public Procurement Act, 2007, to make the President chairman of the National Council on Procurement, NCP.

Ezekwesili, who advised President Goodluck Jonathan to steer clear of the proposed amendment as it was against global best practices in procurement, gave the advice at a two-day interactive session organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement on the procurement processes with stakeholders.

She said the world over, Presidents and ministers had no business awarding contracts to its citizens, stressing that there was a plan to amend the Public Procurement Act to make way for the President as chairman of the NCP.

Dr. Ezekwesili advised President Jonathan not to allow himself to be misled.

She said: "I learnt that there is a move for an amendment of the legislation, PP Act, in order to give the chairmanship of the council to the President. Why would anybody do that? He should not allow anybody to do that to him.

"The man who is carrying the elephant cannot be using his feet to look for a cricket. To make the President chairman of the National Council on Procurement is totally not the most effective and most efficient thing to do in the arena of public policy. If you understand what I'm saying, understand it; if you don't understand it, oho."

She argued that it was not late for Nigeria to start moving in the direction of other prosperous nations, noting that President Obama needed not to call cabinet meetings to discuss contracts.

Ezekwesili added: "The prime minister of Singapore does not call cabinet meetings to discuss contracts. "What business does a President or minister has sitting with a contractor in a meeting? That is not what their contemporaries do in other nations.

"Whereas the leaders of other nations spend their times thinking about vision, strategy and policy, the others spend their time haggling over contracts. It is time for FEC to let go of spending its time on mundane things."

http://m.naij.com/news/36231.html

So that they will award the contracts to thief's and at the end you will still come around to blame Goodluck Jonathan.

gboss4sure: So that they will award the contracts to thief's and at the end you will still come around to blame Goodluck Jonathan.

Thats the problem. If for instance the president or ministers dont oversee the award contracts for certain major projects, how can they take responsibility for failure to deliver such projects? Even if that is the way things are done in advanced countries, must we copy and paste everything happening abroad?

We must take our peculiar and socio-economic situation into consideration while trying to import some of those policies. Certain category of contracts may go through the BPP but bigger contracts of national importance should go thru the president or his ministers. After all, the buck stops at the president's table.

The mischief makers cursing and abusing the president on this forum dont want to hear of any DG BPP. What they know is GEJ. If they cant impregnate their wives, its must be the fault of GEJ.

Maybe when we reach a certain level of development, we may completely insulate the president and his ministers from contract awards.

Sincere 9gerian:
Thats the problem. If for instance the president or ministers dont oversee the award contracts for certain major projects, how can they take responsibility for failure to deliver such projects? Even if that is the way things are done in advanced countries, must we copy and paste everything happening abroad?

We must take our peculiar and socio-economic situation into consideration while trying to import some of those policies. Certain category of contracts may go through the BPP but bigger contracts of national importance should go thru the president or his ministers. After all, the buck stops at the president's table.

The mischief makers cursing and abusing the president on this forum dont want to hear of any DG BPP. What they know is GEJ. If they cant impregnate their wives, its must be the fault of GEJ.

Maybe when we reach a certain level of development, we may completely insulate the president and his ministers from contract awards.

U av jus demonstrated ur ignorance n inability to understand simple points.Hw can a president b presiding ova contract meetings,is it dat der r no oda important tins 2 do or he s also lookin 4 oda ways 2 steal mor moni?


Think friend.............................der can only b mor 2 it.

Dare2007:





U av jus demonstrated ur ignorance n inability to understand simple points.Hw can a president b presiding ova contract meetings,is it dat der r no oda important tins 2 do or he s also lookin 4 oda ways 2 steal mor moni?


Think friend.............................der can only b mor 2 it.

and when DG BPP award this contracts and this contracts are not excuted who has failed nigerians is it the DG or mr presido.

touch4mony: and when DG BPP award this contracts and this contracts are not excuted who has failed nigerians is it the DG or mr presido.

Does the President's presence at the contract award meetings guarantee that the contractor will deliver on the assigned tasks?

Perhaps she should have said same when she was in Obj's government. They all seem to suddenly get a clearer (better) picture when they find themselves outside government thinking others cannot do a better job than themselves when they were in government. I admired her when she was in Obj's government but it is rather unbecoming of these same people who should know better (having been in government) to be playing the ostrich.

The monster (challenges) of unemployment, infrastructural deficit, terrorism, etc where largely created by the past leaders who never thought beyond their noses. I hope GEJ learns from the mistakes of past leaders.

Why would terrorism not have a fertile ground up north when their so called leaders encourage a beggarly and almajari system amongst the poor while they send their children to world class schools overseas.

Why would the Niger delta not have MEND and other militant groups when their environment is constantly been polluted without effective remediation and adequate compensation. I hope they (multinational oil companies) thoroughly clean up their environment before the world stops depending on crude oil. The stone age did not end because of the lack of stones....

GEJ is certainly not going to solve all of Nigeria's problems but if the various state governors can at least perform up to 50% in their states then Nigeria's unending (vicious circle) problems of growth without development will be greatly reduced.

What's d function of his Political Appointees if he has to personally award contracts??

This man is truly a drunkard!!

Garri the 1st: What's d function of his Political Appointees if he has to personally award contracts??

This man is truly a drunkard!!

Please, remind me who awarded the Ikoyi link bridge contract? Hypocrite!!!

Reptyle:

Does the President's presence at the contract award meetings guarantee that the contractor will deliver on the assigned tasks?

For where? The president and his vice are just political heads and in most cases lack the requisite skills to monitor this kind of jobs that demand certain level of knowledge and understanding of the intricacies. Yet you see them trying to head one team or the other when the country can boast of many skilled hands in these areas. Whether it is contract awards and monitoring or treaty negotiations and deliberation, it doesn't really mean that a president must head the team. Delegate this duty to well trained staffs and get the best out of them for the country. The president is too busy to go through the details of these contracts or conduct effective monitoring so whether he heads the committee or not, he will still depend on somebody to do the job. Why the posturing then?

Frank-C:


Please, remind me who awarded the Ikoyi link bridge contract? Hypocrite!!!

Trust me Frank, this is one beautiful question that will never get an answer from the APC/ACN goons in the house