A Civil Society Group Blasts Buhari Over Plans To Stop Ministers From Awarding Contracts

A Civil Society Organisation (CSO), Organising Greater Nigeria, has maintained that President Mu­hammadu Buhari does not posses the power to stop ministers from being involved in the award of con­tracts at the various ministries and government agen­cies under their watch.

It pointed out that although the ministers were not the awarding entities, they were, however, an integral part of the process under the law. The CSO was re­sponding to a statement credited to President Buhari that as part of his anti-corruption campaign, ministers would no longer be involved in the process of contract awards unlike what obtained in the past.

Executive director of the group, Mr. Nuhu Aliyu, noted that doing so would be a violation of the Public Procurement Act of 2007, which vested the power of awarding contracts on ministers.

Aliyu said: “We note with concern, a recent state­ment by President Buhari to the effect that ministers will no longer award contracts, without a comprehen­sive policy explanation on how he intends to award contracts to conform with the tenets of the law. We are worried that the President may be taking us back to pre-1984 where contracts were awarded at the discre­tion of the ‘Head of State’.

“The President may note that under the democratic dispensation and since coming to effect of the Due Process Act of 2007, no minister awards any contract, and certainly not even under the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan, but by due process of the law.”