The United States Agency for International Development, USAID, State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness State2State Activity Nigeria said that the introduction of E-procurement as a platform by the Ebonyi State Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has put the state ahead of several other states in the country in the area of procurement processes.
The USAID State2State Public Financial Management PFM specialist, Mr. Chibueze Nwonye, made the disclosure during a three-day workshop on findings from a public procurement audit held at the Osborn La Palm Hotel Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
Mr. Nwonye said that the agency has supported the state government in developing the procurement law as well as the procurement manual adding that much has also been done to support the E-procurement platform of the state.
“There has been several records to show that the State is well ahead of other states in the country in procurement processes considering the fact that the State is using E-procurement as a platform.
“The 3 day workshop is part of our intervention on public procurement audit. Over the years, USAID State2State has been working with the Ebonyi State Bureau for Public Procurement to strengthen the state’s procurement systems and processes. This intervention is geared towards achieving the same objectives.
“The whole essence is to look at the systems and procedures. We have laws that we supported in developing and we have guidelines which are contained in the manual. So, the meeting is to assess how well the State is doing in compliance with those laws and the guidelines that the State has set for itself. That’s what the procurement audit is all about.
“USAID State2State engaged a consultant to support the BPP in conducting a procurement audit for the priority sectors which are Health Education and WASH.
“The process entailed reviewing the procurement records for the Ministry of Education and the SUBEB for the education sector. For the health sector, they looked at the Ministry of Health as well as the primary healthcare development agency. Then, for WASH, they looked at the Ministry of Water Resources as well as the Ebonyi State rural water supply and sanitation agency, EBRUWASA.
“The 3 day workshop that just ended is for the presentation and validation of the findings from the procurement audit exercise that was conducted about 2 weeks ago,” he said.
He maintained that the state government is making a lot of progress ahead of other states but noted that there are still room for improvement.
Mr. Nwonye maintained that the audit was not to shame or condemn anybody but rather to identify strengths and weaknesses with the aim of continuous improvement in Ebonyi State’s public procurement system.
The facilitator of the workshop, Barr. Eze Onyekwere said that the workshop is part of a chain of a procurement audit process.
“I visited the state to have access to the files, records and to get information and data from them to be able to write a report. After the visit, the report was written which happens to be the third leg to the process.
“So what we are doing now is a validation of the report to confirm if the information, materials and data that was gathered reflects actually the true position for those who are operating the system that what I got was from their records and that I did not form anything on my own and that’s what we have concluded now.
“What is remaining now is for me to clean up the report and submit to the authorities. What we concluded in the past 3 days was to validate the report that was written to make sure that it is in accordance with the reality of what is happening in the State and for the State to have a little understanding of the recommendations that are being made for the improvement of procurement system in the State.
“The State is relatively doing well. The procurement audit is not a punitive expedition, it is not an act to look for anybody to condemn or say that he or she is not doing well but it’s about finding the challenges in the system and fixing the gaps and also finding out best practices and also encouraging those doing it to keep it up,” he said.
The accountant and ICT Admin of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Ebonyi State, Mr. Akam Innocent Chukwuma, commended USAID State2State for the training, adding that it has given his office the opportunity to learn more about E-procurement.
