Senate Asks Tinubu To Submit Amendment Bill On BPP Act

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

The Senate has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to submit the amendment bill for the Bureau of Public Procurement Act.

This call was made during the inauguration of the ambitious Lagos-Calabar highway project, a 700km initiative valued at ₦15 trillion, held in Lagos.

Highlighting the urgent need for this legislative amendment, Akpabio pointed out that the current flaws in the public procurement process are leading to improper budgeting for projects nationwide.

According to him, these budgeting deficiencies have resulted in the abandonment of over 14,000 projects across the country, signalling a critical gap in the nation’s development agenda.

“The flawed budgeting processes have hindered the completion of numerous key projects, which is why it’s imperative to amend the Bureau of Public Procurement Act,” Akpabio stated.

He emphasized that enhancing the Act would streamline procurement processes and ensure more efficient resource allocation and use, ultimately reducing the high incidence of project abandonment.

He said “A few days ago we were debating and we came to the conclusion that we must go ahead to amend the BPP Act.

“A situation where you want to construct a road of ₦500bn and you start by putting ₦2billion this year, it means you will finish the job in 50 years.

“So, we must be in a position to budget in a way that we also look at the tenure of presidency and that of the federal government otherwise, most of the reasons why we have over 14,000 projects in Nigeria is because of budgeting.

“The budgeting process is totally flawed. So, Mr President, the executive must bring an amendment bill of the BPP Act so that we amend it and ensure that every project you start will be completed in record time with five years from today.

“That’s our commitment.”