CSOs Task Govt On Open Contracting, Accountability

A coalition of Civil Society organisations (CSOs) has urged  governments at all levels to always operate open contracting in line with the  Public Procurement Act 2007 and Freedom of Information Act 2011.

The coalition of Civil Society Organisations which gave the advice pointed out that lack of transparency and improper provision of data to the public on contracts being awarded makes the enacted laws ineffective.

The coalition lamented that non-compliance with the policies which is often shrouded in secrecy was also responsible for the mind-boggling corruption being perpetrated in the country’s public procurement system.

A consultant with an Abuja based NGO, Public Private Development Centre (PPDC), Mr. Onyekachi Chukwu, stated this in Ado Ekiti, at a four-day 2022 Hackcorruption workshop jointly organised by Accountability Lab , Open Contracting Partnership(OCP) and United Nations Development Programme(UNDP).

Speaking on, ‘Improving Accountability in Public Procurement’, Chukwu,  said, “Public procurement is one of the most important aspects of governance, that is each state has a Bureau of Public Procurement to vet whatever purchase the government is making to check corruption.

“The bureau participates in contract awards, but the public has not been paying attention to the operations of this office. The citizens have failed to engage this office to ensure that accurate data on contracts are made public in line with Open Contracting Data Standard .