Assessment of Application of Due-Process Policy in Public Procurement and Contracts Under Obasanjo Administration in Nigeria, 2003-2007

Abstract

Many Nigerians identify corruption and poverty as the bane of the nation’s development paralysis. The Obasanjo administration in the country was determined to enthrone the principle of transparency and accountability in public life in Nigeria. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo believes that without probity in public life, the ultimate aim of providing for the happiness and welfare of the citizenry will be an illusion. It is in the light of the above that the government embarked on a number of public sector reform programmes aimed at blocking leakages of all sorts in public sector service delivery and transactions. The official instrument designed to achieve this much desired honesty, transparency and accountability in the conduct of government business especially in the award of contracts and procurement in the ministries, parastatals and departments in Nigeria is the introduction of the Due Process Policy.

Key words: Due process; Public procurement; Administration