Federal government has been urged to constitute the National Council on Public Procurement to ensure a seamless and generally acceptable procurement process.
The monitoring, evaluation and learning associate of Accountabilitylab Nigeria Mr. Alfred Agu who made the call said the council which is to oversee issues relating to public procurement in Nigeria enhance transparency, accountability, inclusion and participation of the processes.
Agu who called for the inclusion of non-state actors including journalists, civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to work with government officials in the council said such will help in addressing some of the procurement challenges in the country.
The non- governmental organisation (NGO) officer who also decried lack of autonomy and full independence for Bureaus of Public Procurement in Nigeria spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital at the end of the All Stakeholder Consultative Meeting organised by the group in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):and Open Contracting Partnership at the weekend.
He said, “For over eight years there has been agitation for the council to be constituted but nothing has been done. There is a need to make the issues public procurement participatory for the citizenry to have value for their money”.
Interference in the procurement system, according to him, was making public procurement processes to lack in the necessary transparency and accountability.
Agu revealed that his group has been working in three states i.e Ekiti, Plateau and Edo states in the last two years to ensure that transparency and accountability and gender responsive procurement is key in the states’ procurement processes.
“We are here in Ekiti state, to find out what the challenges have been since the last time we were here and the possible solutions to address the challenges which will be tendered to the state government for the necessary steps and action.
“Procurement processes are supposed to be transparent. When there are interferences from the heads of institutions or government officials, such negates the essence of accountability and transparency in the public procurement processes. “
