DG Lauds LG Councils Over Compliance With Procurement Law

The director General of Rivers State Bureau of public procurement, Mr. Igonigbo Thompson, has said that local government councils in the state have better compliance level with the public procurement law than other agencies.
Mr. Thompson, who made the remarks at the opening of a one-day workshop for council chairmen at the Bureau’s office in Port Harcourt recently, noted that the training was introduced to increase the compliance level of council authorities.
He said the Bureau had been training public servants in the state for more than 10 years and urged chairmen to encourage their staff to comply with the public procurement law.
A lecturer, Barrister Tom George who spoke at the workshop with the theme, “fundamentals of public procurement law and its implementation”, explained that the public procurement law applied to the local councils because the law says it applied to them.
Mr. George, who is one of the professionals employed by the Bureau, noted that the only time, the law does not apply is during emergency situations, pointing out that it was compulsory for councils to constitute procurement planning committees, and those who violate the law risk prosecution.
At the interactive workshop, the chairman of Emohua Local Government Council, Dr. Chidi Lloyd noted that some red tapes were hindering speedy development of the councils, given the fact that they were constrained by time.
“Why will a chairman spend six weeks to advertise procurement,” he asked.
He cited section 40 of the public procurement law which deals with emergency procurement.

By: Chidi Enyie