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The 7th Senate seems to be stepping up its oversight brief with marching orders to President Goodluck Jonathan to respect the Public Procurement Act and to the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to suspend implementation of the new price regime in vehicle plate numbers and drivers licenses. UCHENNA AWOM examines this new footing

The Senate is baring its fangs and may have suddenly woken up to the sudden realization that respect for the constitution of the land remains the sine qua non, if democracy must thrive in Nigeria, as practiced in other developed democracies.

First, the senate for the umpteenth time cautioned advocates of the Sovereign National Conference (SNC) to adhere strictly to the provisions of the constitution even as it reminded them that the only platform where change could be made in the constitution remains the National Assembly. They minced no words on that and in fact went farther to warn that calls for SNC aside the existing democratic structures amount to calls for anarchy.

President Goodluck Jonthan was directed by the Senators to immediately inaugurate the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) in adherence to section 1 (4) of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

What the directive infers was that all along, the Bureau for Public Procurement has been operating illegally. So what went wrong? Has the President been acting in breach of the law? If so, what next?

Again, the Senators unequivocally ordered the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to stop the implementation of its new price regime on drivers’ licenses and issuance of new vehicle number plates. The two were the highpoints of the renewed effort to oversight the activities of the executive.

Perhaps, the subtle reprimand of Jonathan can be adduced as the import of the motion on the BPP, given the constitutional implication of a bureau in the mould of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to operate in total breach of the law that established it.

The BPE has a guiding council; National Council on Privatization (NCP) that has the Vice President of Nigeria as the Chairman. Therefore, it was given that the BPP should have taken off properly constituted with the establishment of the NCPP, which in this case should be directly under the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The resolution, which received unanimous support of all Senators, was sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Ahmad Lawan (ANPP, Yobe). He told his colleagues that the Public Procurement Practice before the enactment of the Act was unprofessional, inefficient and ineffective as it was based on outdated Treasury-Circular, which provided only guidelines on public expenditure management.

Lawan argued that Public Procurement Act 2007, which took effect in June 2007, established the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) as regulatory agencies responsible for monitoring and oversight of public procurement, harmonizing the existing government procedures and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria.

Under the Act the National Council on Public Procurement (NCPP), among other things, is to consider and approve policies on public procurement, approve the appointment of the Directors of the BPP and approve changes in the procurement process to adapt to improvements in modern technology.

While the BPP is among others, to formulate the general policies and guidelines relating to public sector procurement for the approval of the Council, subject to thresholds as may be set by the Council, certify federal procurement prior to the award of contracts, supervise the implementation of established procurement policies, monitor the prices of tendered items and keep a national database of standard prices, prepare and update standard biding and contract documents and prevent fraudulent and unfair procurement and where necessary apply administrative sanctions.?

Unfortunately, the federal government Senator Lawan pointed out is yet to constitute the National Council on Public Procurement as provided for in sections 1 (1) and 1 (4) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 respectively.

According to him, the non-appointment and non-inauguration of the council has rendered the execution of the Public Procurement Act 2007 ineffective adding that the challenges characterizing the procurement process in the federal government contract award was due to partial execution of the Act.

The question is – when did the act come to life? For how long has the BPP been operating without NCPP? Does it mean that all the procurement process done within the period the BPP operated without the NCPP must be reversed? Again what would happen to the operators who are well aware of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act that established the bureau and the council?

As invidious as the breaches were, the Senators took turns to lampoon the obvious breach to the extent that the President of the Senate, David Mark had to openly berate the executive for failing to do what it was expected to: protect and defend the constitution.

He declared; “It is not about whether it is questionable or illegal. The point is that they have failed to do what they are supposed to do five years ago. And they should be told that in very strong terms. That is what this motion is all about.

But unfortunately our resolutions are not binding. I recall in the Sixth Senate we had a bill to make our resolutions binding and we then said that if we will have two-third majority the motions will become binding like in the United States and Brazil.

“But until we do that we cannot say our resolutions are binding at the moment. This is not just about a resolution being binding. This is much more than that. There is sheer illegality here and the earlier it is corrected the better for everybody”

Mark’s angst was the anti-climax of the lawmaker’s disappointment with the executive. Before him, other contributors to the motion railed on the seeming deliberate denigration of the grund norm.

Contributing to the motion, Senator James Manager stated that it was appalling that laws passed by the legislature are not properly implemented adding that non-implementation of the Act On Public Procurement leaves room for corruption.

The Senate Majority Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, explained that the none constitution of the council could be an innocent oversight on the part of the executive arm, he however said if the BPP has been operating without a council there is an infraction and the implication is that actions taken so far are questionable.

Senator Ganiyu Solomon who stressed that the thrust of the motion is not to castigate but to cement smooth working relationship between the legislature and the executive called on the executive not to shy away from its duties.

The presidency is yet to respond to the directive, but like the Senate President said, the resolution could well be only for the consumption of the public. In that case, it amounts to a clarion call to expose the executive’s profligacy in terms of obedience to the laws.

FRSC: The Number Plates, Licenses Controversy
On the illegality of the new vehicle number plates, driver's Licence, the senators warned the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) not to exceed its statutory bounds. Consequently, they directed the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to suspend immediately the implementation of the new driver's licence and vehicle number plates.

To underscore the seriousness of the lawmakers, Senator Mark berated the FRSC for abandoning their primary function of ensuring safety on federal roads for embarking on revenue generation.

“The same FRSC introduced this existing number plate. What is wrong with it and why are they changing it? Although one of the functions of the commission is to issue drivers’ licenses, there is no doubt about that, but the essence here is that they should not impose additional expenditure on Nigerians.

“There are so many little things they have to do here. If you are carrying gravel, you must cover it with tarpaulin; they are not doing that any longer. Nobody says they are not doing anything but why has revenue generation become the main function?” he queried. That set the tone of what might happen in the days to come, with regards to the relationship between the Senate and FRSC.

The senators not only condemned the new price regime, but also mandated its Committee On Federal Character and Inter- governmental Affairs to conduct a public hearing on the license and vehicle number plates scheme of the commission.

The directive was sequel to a motion sponsored by Sen. Dahiru Awaisu Kuta (PDP, Niger) and 19 others. In his lead debate, Sen. Kuta stated that the FRSC has in recent times embarked on frequent and arbitrary introduction and re-introduction of vehicle number plates and licences.

He said the new drivers licence which the commission launched in 2011 is now issued for N6000 from the former N3000, while the new number plates has suddenly jumped from its original N5000 to an astronomical N15000 with those of trucks and other categories of vehicles put at between N20,000 to N40,000. He added that the commission was generating N2bn as its own share of the new scheme.

He noted that the exorbitant cost of the drivers licenses and vehicle plates have incurred outrage and rejection by Nigerians.

Besides, Sen. Kuta expressed worry that August 31, 2012 deadline issued by the commission for the scheme was not feasible as current demand surpassed supply. He noted that the situation has encouraged touts and middlemen to exploit the scheme.

Well, the senate may have surreptitiously reignited an activist posture that could shape their future relationship with the executive, but what has kept the public in suspense is how far the lawmakers can go to enforce compliance.

Particularly the FRSC seems to be adamant as they invoked the federalists’ principle to say that they lacked the constitutional powers to stop the states from going ahead to collect the new fees on the vehicle plate numbers and drivers licence. As for the NCPP, the senate may have succeeded in putting the presidency on the spot.
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