By Chimezie Godfrey
Barely hours before judgment was due to be delivered in the suit between the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria and the Bureau of Public Procurement, the Nigerian Society of Engineers successfully applied to join the proceedings.
Justice Obiora Atuegwu Egwuatu of the Federal High Court granted the application after neither the claimant nor the existing defendants opposed the request.
Counsel to the claimant, Barrister Salifu Oguche, told journalists after the proceedings that the judgment could not be delivered because the Nigerian Society of Engineers had, on July 2, 2026, filed an application seeking to be joined as the third defendant in the suit.
According to Oguche, the application was subsequently served on the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria and the existing defendants on July 3.
He explained that when the matter came up on Tuesday, the court informed the parties that it had received the application for joinder and consequently suspended the scheduled judgment.
Oguche said the court, with the consent of all parties, proceeded to hear the application, noting that none of the parties opposed the request by the Nigerian Society of Engineers.
”The application for joinder was not objected to by any of the parties, and the court accordingly granted it, making the Nigerian Society of Engineers the third defendant in the suit,” he said.
Following the ruling, Justice Egwuatu adjourned the matter until September 22, 2026, for the re-adoption of final written addresses, after which a fresh date for judgment will be fixed.
Earlier, the Federal Ministry of Justice, which is the second defendant in the suit, argued that while the Bureau of Public Procurement has the statutory mandate to train procurement professionals, it does not possess the power to certify them.
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