Senate amends Public Procurement Act to favour local producers

The Senate yesterday passed for third reading a bill to re-enact the Public Procurement Act, 2007 to among other things, give patronage to locally made goods in all government procurements.

This followed the consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Public Procurement, Chaired by Senator Joshua Dariye (PDP Plateau Central).

The Bill, titled: “A bill for an act to amend the public procurement act to provide for and adopt a local content policy and timely completion of procurement processes and other related matters” passed third reading at the Senate.

Dariye said that the bill, when assented to, will amend certain relevant sections of the 2007 Procurement Act to favour local manufacturers and ensure speedy completion of projects.

According to him, the bill seeks to amend section 15(1) of the Act by inserting additional clauses that would close the gap created by the Act as we have witnessed in the recent arms procurement saga.

He said: “Similarly, the issue of disposal which is an integral aspect of procurement has been aptly captured by the amendment in the new sub-clause 1(e).

“This is aimed at enhancing timely completion of Procurement Processes at various phases.”

The Senate also approved the inclusion of Nigerian Institute of Architects and the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyor (NIQS) as members of the National Council on Public Procurement.

After presenting the report of the committee, the Senate dissolved into a Committee of the whole for clause-by-clause consideration on the report.

The senate thereafter adopted the report of the committee and passed the bill for third reading, the bill was therefore read a third time and passed.

Speaking after the passage of the bill, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said that the new amendments to the act would help stimulate the nation’s economy.

“We all have a role to play to ensure that the Executive comply especially in the area of giving first priority to locally produced goods.

“This has helped many countries to develop when they had issues of downturn in their economy.

“I want to commend my colleagues for passing this bill,” he said.

It would be recalled that the 8th Senate, during its inauguration, had pledged to encourage local manufacturers champion procurement of made in Nigeria goods.