2023 Budget: Reps decry N58m capital allocation to BPP, seek increased funding

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives on Monday decried the low budgetary allocation to the Bureau of Public Procurement, even as it moved for better funding for the Agencies

This was just as the Lawmakers expressed displeasure at the budget defense of the

Committee on Public Procurement in Abuja.

The Committed Chairman, Nasir Ali Ahmed, said considering the enormous responsibilities vested on the BPP, it requires more funding.

He noted that 58 million naira allocation was inadequate.

“We will liaise with the senate to seek ways to improve on the budget of the BPP. We will sit down with the leadership of both Chambers to make sure that the issue is addressed. If there are any losers in this under funding, it is the Nigerian people”,Hon Ahmed said.

He noted that the agency is grossly under funded.

He said that the committee will intensify its oversight functions with the aim of

strengthening the Bureau to build and sustain an efficient procurement system

that meets international best practices.

“ The House of representative and indeed the National Assembly is not only

poised to ensure timely passage of annual budgets but also to ensure that budget should have direct impact on the citizenry and the nation at large. It should impact on the productive capacity of Nigerians with a view to create wealth and opportunities for all and sundry”, he said.

A member of the Committee, Hon Benjamin Kalu, said that the most important aspect of the Bureau was monitoring and evaluation and that the bureau was not embarking on trips to monitor project.

He also said that he was surprised that the director general was not worried about being underfunded.

Members of the committee were unanimous in the agreement that the BPP can not meet any of its mandates with it’s allocation.

In his response, the Director General of the Bureau of public procurement,  Mamman Ahmadu, said that only 49% of it 2022 budget has so far been released to the bureau.

On how he copes with under funding, the Director General said that he has been working within its budget.

He noted that he runs into difficulties sometimes.

“ We can’t pretend about this, there is less money and more work. We’ll do the best we can, give the lean resources available for us to work with. Mr. Ahmadu”.

He said, “Mr. Chairman, as a result of revenue challenges being experienced by the government today,the Federal Government has to prioritized its spending. This has affected the capital budget of the Bureau. A total budget, ceiling of N58,967,454.00 was given to us as capital vote. The capital allocation was prioritized into two of the critical mandates of the Bureau as follows:

“Section 5(q) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 mandates the Bureau to introduce, develop, update and maintain adequate technological innovation at achieving transparent, fair, competitive and valuefor money practices for the procurement and disposal of public assets and services.

“This system is aimed at integrating all existing public procurement software applications towards full realization of e-GP and the National Database of Contractors,Consultants and Service Providers (CCSP) implementation in line with the Bureau’s Core mandate as enshrined in Section 5(h) of the Public Procurement Act 2007. The database module is for archival system and development of National Database of the particulars and classification/categorization of Federal contractors and service providers.

The sum of N38,967,454.00 is earmarked for this project in 2023.”