Sanwo-Olu Urges Capacity Building For Robust Procurement System

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has charged professionals and stakeholders to promote and deepen capacity for a good, robust procurement system in the country.

He said Lagos State government has been a strong advocate and a convert of a well-coordinated and transparent procurement process for many years.

Sanwo-Olu spoke during a courtesy visit by the Global Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Mr Ben Farrell and the Regional Director for Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Mr. Sam Achampong, at Lagos House, Marina.

The governor said there were lots of experiences that Lagos State had gathered in the procurement process that can be shared with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, as well as professionals in other parts of the world.

He said: “For us, especially in Lagos State, we have been a strong advocate and a convert of a well-coordinated, transparent procurement process. We pride ourselves that we are one of the first governments and bodies to have institutionalised and started a public procurement process.

“I was privileged to be in government 15 years ago when the conversation started and we were quick to set up relevant agencies. But over time, one of the things we realised is that we need to also continue to spread out competency. We need to continue to ensure that capacity is deepened and is enriched.

“There is a need for us to ensure that we do it rightly. Here in Lagos, we understand fully the value of a very good, robust procurement system. It helps to anticipate. It helps to negotiate better.”

Earlier, the Global Chief Executive Officer of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Mr. Ben Farrell, expressed the willingness of the Institute to provide capacity building to drive competence for the benefit and the prosperity of Nigeria.

He said: “We have members in 180 countries, and we share competency, best practice, and build capacity around nations. We are here to support you for the prosperity of Nigeria, to build on the great work of the team in recent years.

“We came to say that we are going to establish a permanent presence here to work with the Nigerian public and private sector to provide capacity building to drive competence for the benefit and the prosperity of Nigeria. We feel that spreading the knowledge and the competency will really benefit this nation.”