Uche Henry
The Registrar, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN), Muhammed Aliyu, has accused the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) of unethical acts against Procurement Certified Professionals and best practices in Nigeria.
Addressing journalists over the weekend in Lagos, Aliyu revealed that the BPP has been engaging in activities inimical to the nation’s economic growth and development.
According to him, the law establishing CIPSMN mandates it to regulate the professional practice in Procurement and Supply Chain Management which by extension means that; any person who must be awarded contracts to prosecute public Procurement and Supply Chain Management must have been certified by CIPSMN as enshrined in CIPSMN establishment Act of 2007. He noted that the BPP has been degrading the CIPSMN and by extension serially breaking the provisions of the Act establishing it and undermining it in order to advance the personal interest of its officials at the expense of the country’s economic growth and development.
Aliyu said, “It has come to our notice that BPP organises a one week training/seminar on Purchasing and Supply Chain Management and issues certificates to participants who go out and parade themselves as professional buyers. These are the kind of persons who have drained this country dry and kept it economically backward because they lack the requisite skills to prosecute Public Procurement and Supply Chain Management. We are the only professional body that trains and certifies members on procurement for the Bureau of Public Procurement, they should note that.
There are many cases in Nigeria where high profile persons spent public funds because due process was not followed in awarding those contracts, some of them are facing trials now, this must henceforth stop”.
He further bemoaned the unrestrained interference of some persons from other disciplines in purchasing and supply chain management, who claim to be Jack of all trade thereby squandering public funds.