CONTRACT SPLITTING IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT: THE TREND IN NIGERIA’S PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

From independence in 1960 till 2007, public procurement activity in Nigerian Federal Government was not regulated by any known formal legislation made by the National Assembly of the country. The system and practice was thus weak and characterized by avalanche of irregularities and illegalities; massive corruption and fraud beset government procurement and contract award system in Nigeria throughout the period. Against this backdrop, in 2007, Nigeria through the National Assembly enacted a public procurement law- the Public Procurement Act (PPA), 2007, which ushered the country into a new procurement order. The PPA, 2007 aims to regulate the processes leading to award and implementation of all government procurement contracts in the Federal Government, with the view to forestalling the inadequacies of the old procurement practice. The paper argues that, despite the PPA, 2007, contract splitting, one of the major ills that saw the collapse of the old procurement system, has continued to show its ugly face under the current procurement dispensation. The paper uses some recent cases of contract splitting perpetrated by some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of Nigerian Federal Government to concretize its claims. It submits that Nigeria needs to take urgent measures to curb the odious trend so as to enable country to quickly realize the objectives of the recent public procurement reform. Accordingly, the paper recommends among other things, that strong ‘political will’ by the federal executive arm of government and unfettered application of the provisions of the law in handling cases of contract splitting by designated court - the Federal High Court of Nigeria are of high imperative in combating the malfeasance. The paper depends mainly on evidences from newspaper reports and speeches as sources of its data.