By Christiana Ekpa
The Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) on Monday urged the House of Representatives to reject the bill seeking to amend the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, even as it warned the House against conflicting mandates.
The BPP argued that the proposed amendment would bring the institute’s mandate into conflict with its own, and instead advocate for promoting superior services and products with high ethical standards and customer service delivery.
Speaking at a public hearing on the bill, Director of Civil Infrastructure, Nasir Bello who represented the Director General of the Bureau said allowing the amendment being sought by the bill will bring the institute in conflict with the mandate of the Bureau.
Bello said having reviewed the Bill, the Bureau, is of the view that allowing the amendment to section 1(c) which seeks to “(c) providing training, education and examination of persons desiring to become professional procures as well as procurement auditors according to the provisions of the Act whether in Nigeria or abroad” will bring it in conflict with section 5(k) of the Public Procurement Act.
In addition, he said amending section 12 as contained in the amendment bill will also bring it in conflict with global standards and the provision of the Procurement Act, adding that the institute should rather focus on its primary role in relation to purchasing. procurement, store, materials, warehouse, logistics management or procurement chain management in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
“It should not be allowed to delve into function functions of the Bureau in relation to procurement and Public procurement in particular. In carrying out its mandate as stipulated in Section 5 (k) of the PPA, the Bureau has several higher institutions of learning handling courses on Procurement. The institute may change its name but the scope of its mandate should remain, as it is contained in its extant law”.
