Public procurement process: global practices and the Nigerian experience

Public procurement has evolved as a powerful tool to deliver public goods and facilitate economic development. Sustained interest in public procurement gained momentum in the 1990s as governments at all levels came under increasing pressures to provide more public goods with less resources. Indeed, all governmental entities are struggling in the face of unrelenting budget constraints; increased demand for transparency in public procurement; and greater concerns about efficiency, fairness, and equity. A World Bank Country Procurement Assessment survey conducted in 1999 established a strong link between ineffective public procurement process and corruption. The survey also established the negative impact of defective procurement process on national development. Against this backdrop, governments world over are devising means of improving on their public procurement operations and processes. The case of Nigeria is not an exception. In a bid to develop its procurement process, the Nigerian government enacted the Public Procurement Act (2007) [1] which provides legislative framework for operationalisation of public purchase. However, the procurement process remains ineffective, thus, impinging delivery of public goods. In this brief, we examined operation of public procurement in Nigeria within the context of some international guidelines, principles and best practices. Also, recommendations bordering on improving the efficiency of public procurement procedure were offered. In all, the urgent need to constitute the public procurement council and the imperative to strengthen Nigeria's budgeting system cannot be overemphasised.