BPP act aiding corruption in contract awards – EFCC

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said there is an urgent need to review the law that established the Bureau of Public Procurement to reduce corruption that comes with the award of contracts.

Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the EFCC, stated this at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja when he hosted the management team of BPP, led by Mamman Ahmadu.

He said the BPP act as it is currently, has not aided any prosecution nor has it been used to secure the conviction of any corrupt individuals.

The EFCC boss stressed that there are so many areas to be worked about to prevent corruption in the award of contracts, saying there is no need to wait until a contract is awarded and money stolen.

He said, “I am not sure that I can remember any specific case where we secured a conviction using the provisions of the Bureau of Public Procurement Act. I am not sure that the EFCC has secured any conviction using the BPP Act.

“If we mean business about sanitising our contract and procurement award processes, we have to do something about the BPP Act and review it in such a way that it can address some of these concerns.”

The anti-graft czar also expressed dismay over BPP’s procedure of issuance of the “Certificate of No Objection” to applicants on some items for procurement.

Speaking earlier, Ahmadu stated that the need for better collaboration between the EFCC and BPP was the motivation for the visit by his team.