AN APPLICATION OF DUE PROCESS IN EXISTING PROCUREMENT METHODS IN NIGERIA

AN APPLICATION OF DUE PROCESS IN EXISTING PROCUREMENT METHODS IN NIGERIA (ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)

ABSTRACT

This research work looks at Due Process Application in the procurement of construction projects in Nigeria. It gives a brief background of the introduction of due process generally in the Nigerian public sector and specifically in the construction industry.

This research goes further to highlight the gains made by the introduction and application of due process in construction projects. This was achieved by interviews and administering of questionnaires, which focused on the awareness/understanding of the concept of due process by project participants in the Nigerian construction industry.

This project also looked at the effectiveness of the application of due process procedure in the Procurement of construction project, since it’s adoption. It further asserts that ‘application or non-application’ of due process procedure or mechanism affects project delivery.

This research finally recommends that due process procedure should strictly be complied with and further extended to other tiers of Government, which are the State and Local Government. In doing this the gains so far made in the procurement of construction projects in the public sector would be fully harnessed.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The construction industry activities include procurement of goods and services as well as the execution of a variety of physical structures and infrastructure (Ayangade, Wahab and Alake 2009), using different procurement methods.  The activities of construction industry has helped in  contributing to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross fixed capital formation and creation of high level of employment to the changing professionals (Wahab, 2005).  In industrialized countries, the building industry is responsible for up to 22.00% of the GDP and employs up to 12.00% of the total labour force, but in Nigeria, it is responsible for 16.00% of the GDP and employs up to 20.00% of the labour force (Akindoyeni, 2004).  The construction industry has many features which set it apart from other process industries and which accentuate the need for professional engagement.  Various methods have been used for procuring building and other infrastructural facilities in the country.  One of the changes and new trends, which now influence the procurement system in the country, is the increasing fragmentation of the stages involved in construction process (Bamisile, 2004).

Until 1999, Nigeria had practically institutionalized corruption as the foundation of governance.

Hence institutions of society easily decayed to unprecedented proportions as opportunities were privatized by the powerful. This process was accompanied, as to be expected, by the intimidation of the judiciary, the subversion of due process, the manipulation of existing laws and regulations, the suffocation of civil society, and the containment of democratic values and institutions. Power became nothing but a means of accumulation and subversion as productive initiatives were abandoned for purely administrative and transactional activities.  The legitimacy and stability of the state became compromised as citizens began to devise extra-legal and informal ways of survival. All this made room for corruption. (BPP website).

AN APPLICATION OF DUE PROCESS IN EXISTING PROCUREMENT METHODS IN NIGERIA (ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)