Don Seeks Amendment Of Public Procurement Act

An economic expert, Prof. Uche Uwaleke, has called for an amendment of the Public Procurement Act to fast track government spending on critical infrastructure.

Uwaleke made the call in an interview with newsmen yesterday on Thursday in Abuja.

“Without necessarily granting emergency powers to the President, the National Assembly can quickly amend relevant sections of the Public Procurement Act.

“This will enable a fast approach to government spending, especially on critical infrastructure such as roads, railways and power, ‘’ the economist said.

He said that the diversification of the country’s productive base remained the long term solution to weak naira, with agriculture and solid minerals holding lots of promises in this regard.

According to Uwaleke, figures recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed the strong correlation between oil revenue and macro-economic indicators.

He said that this was evident especially for an economy that was largely dependent on the revenue from a single product.

Uwaleke said the weak infrastructure such as power and transport as well as high cost of petroleum products combined with the citizens’ penchant for foreign goods to increase commodity prices.

He said that the stock market performance equally mirrored these gloomy economic indicators.

“Unfortunately, a reversal of the present situation will not be anytime soon, except the government moves speedily to jump-start the economy,’’ Uwaleke said.

He urged the Federal Government to consider alternative policies that would help improve the nation’s economy.