Senate to Amend 2007 Public Procurement Act – TheNigerialawyer

The Senate has indicated its readiness to amend the 2007 Public
Procurement Act over the reported cumbersomeness in adhering
strictly to its provisions.

Chairman of the Senate committee on Priimary Healthcare and
Communicable Diseases, Senator Chukwuka Utazi, dropped this hint at
the weekend while playing host to the executive of the Society of
Public Health Professionals of Nigeria (SPHPN), in his office.

Senator Utazi, therefore, assured the health workers of the
readiness of his committee and that of the tertiary health, to find
solutions to the problems associated with the Act.

According to him, the required amendments on the Public
Procurement Act , would be carried out to give the health sector
exemption from some of its provisions delaying procurement and
project execution in the country .

He emphasised that “procurement cycle of eight to nine months is
injurious to a sector as highly sensitive as the health
sector.”

According to him, since there is no room for pre- financing in
the Act, it will have to be amended to pave way for hospitals to
procure drugs from the beginning of the year for usage by patients
.

“This trend of returning almost half of the monies released back
to the treasury on yearly basis with empty pharmaceutical units at
the various hospitals is injurious to the populace and will be
stopped by amending the Act in favour of the health sector “,
Senator Utazi further said.

The Society of Public Health Professionals of Nigeria (SPHPN)
had earlier informed Senator Utazi that the alleged cubersomeness
of adhering to the provisions of the Act in contracts awards and
executions is crippling the health sector in the country.

Its President, Prof MC Azuru, represented by Dr Tolu Fakeye,
while lamenting the adverse effects of provisions of the Act,
specifically mentioned the yearly non-availability of drugs at the
various primary health care centres in the country for patients and
also the annual return of substantial parts of capital budgetary
allocations released for the sector into the national treasury.

Fakeye, explained that the problem has been there for over ten
years now since the Act came into force.

Said he: “For instance in 2012, out of the N45billion released
as capital allocations to the sector, only N33.68billion was spent
while N11.32 billion had to be returned to the treasury.

From 2009 to 2018 , the story has not changed because the
country’s budget cycle did not allow for proper utilization of
budgetary allocations to the health sector and even compounded with
the cumbersomeness of the procurement processses , provided for by
provisions of the 2007 Public Procurement Act.

“In 2018, out of the N21.62billion released for procurement of
drugs and other capital projects, only N13.35 billion was utilized
while the balance of N8.27billion was returned to the treasury due
to expiration of time line for utilization of such funds”.

Fakeye also complained of gross underfunding of the health
sector by successive governments in the as clearly shown with
yearly money appropriated and releases made.

The trend, he explained, became worrisome years after as shown
with the N141.62billion capital allocations appropriated for the
sector in 2018 but with meagre cash backing of just N21.62billion
which represented 15.3% of the entire allocation and out of which
only N13.35bn was utilized in strict adherence to the Procurement
Act.

“For better health care service delivery to Nigerians ,
particularly at the grassroots through the Primary Health Care
Centres , both the problems of gross underfunding of the sector and
delays on utilization of monies released , must be addressed very
urgently by government at all levels”, he stated.