By Umar Muhammad Puma
Former Minister of Education and pioneer Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, yesterday called on the National Assembly to kick against the proposed amendment to the Public Procurement Act, which seeks to make the President, Chairman of the National Council on Procurement (NCP).
Ezekwesili who gave the advice at a two-day interactive session organized by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement, said the world over, presidents and ministers have no business awarding contracts.
She alleged that there was a plan to amend the Public Procurement Act, to make way for the President as Chairman of the NCP but advised Jonathan not to allow himself to be misled.
According to her, "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.
"To make the President the Chairman of the NCP is totally not the most effective and most efficient thing to do in the arena of public policy.
"There is absolutely no reason why the head of public procurement should be a politician.
"He must be a professional who must go through recruitment process and competitively emerge."
Chairman of the House committee, Olajumoke Okoya-Thomas, said the forum was aimed at making the MDA's adhere to tenets of the Procurement Act, 2007 and domesticate it.
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