A two -day retreat for senior procurement officials of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) ended at the weekend in Ikot Ekpene local government area of Akwa Ibom State with participants harping on effective and sustainable strategy towards efficiency in the procurement process in public service.
The workshop with the theme: “Result – Based Procurement; Strategic Approach”, organised in collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) took place at the Four Point By Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene.
The managing director (MD) of NDIC, Bello Hassan, who declared the forum open, stressed the need for efficiency and transparency in public procurement processes by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as well as corporations in order to enhance financial stability and sustainable economic growth of the country in line with the ongoing sectoral reforms by President Bola Tinubu.
The NDIC chief executive officer (CEO), Bello Hassan, noted that strict collaboration with the BPP has engendered efficiency in the procurement regime and called for the sustainability of the partnership to stamp out corruption in the procurement process.
Represented by the executive director (Operations), Mustapha Ibrahim, the NDIC chief explained that the firm was working assiduously towards ensuring proper and seamless procurement system devoid of frauds and other deliberately orchestrated financial discrepancies.
He said the partnership with the BPP through various training programmes facilitated by the procurement agency has fostered deep sense of professional efficiency amongst the procurement staff members of the corporation and urged participants to deeply internalise the training modules for more productivity as the firm works towards achieving its 2021 – 2025 Medium Term strategic action plan.
In the same vein, the director general (DG), Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP), Mamman Ahmadu, represented by a senior director of the agency, Aliyu Aliyu, underscored the importance of the workshop as a major avenue over the years to strengthen collaboration and synergy with the NDIC to enhance due process in public procurement in line with the relevant sections of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007, as amended.
He, therefore, stressed the need for imbibing the electronic procurement (e -procurement) system, which he noted, was effective and transparent in order to curtail frauds and other financial crimes in the procurement regime by various ministries and agencies of government.
“You must have your procurement plans before you begin procurement,” he warned, and charged those saddled with such responsibilities to imbibe the highest level of integrity and transparency as enshrined in the BPP Act, as amended.
He said the strategic partnership with the BPP has impacted positively on the quality of the workforce and enhanced best practices by “facilitating waste reduction, blocked leakages, and overall, enhancing healthy competition, transparency and more value for money spent in the procurement of works, goods, and consultancy services for the corporation.”
