November 03, (THEWILL) – The Acting Director-General of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Barrister Olusegun Omotola, is set to redefine public procurement and reconfigure the unhealthy platform on which it is practised in the nation’s governance system.
However, stakeholders and industry experts argue that the vision and objective of the Kogi-born Acting D-G at the BPP do not pose an easy task, notwithstanding his experience as former Director of Legal Services at the BPP.
OLD ORDER
They believe procurement is the avenue for personal “resource control” and easy channel to acquire wealth at the expense of the government and the citizens, noting that business outfits bearing the insignia of ‘General Contractors and Suppliers’ are often used as conduit for looting.
“Procurement is the major goldmine in the Nigerian public service because it has an open-ended system that offers the leeway for manipulation and maneuvering to enrich those in charge. It is corruption personified and no one goes there and come out the same,” said Egr. Basil Imokhuede, a retired procurement expert in a major multinational firm that has exited Nigeria.
According to Imokhuede, while the procurement unit, as a cost-centre, is set up to save the money that the revenue yielding strategic business units (SBUs) earn, the case is the opposite in Nigeria. He alludes to the various reports of the AuGF which indicted the MDAs of corruption through fraudulent procurement processes.
Procurement, as the process of acquiring goods and services and getting value for money in a competitive performance, is not a culture that is alien to the Nigerian public sector where methodical corruption holds sway.
This is verifiable from the damning reports of the Auditor- General of the Federation (AuGF) against government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) whose systems have over the years proven allergic to transparency. At the centre of the ‘official’ anomaly is the procurement process which is used to facilitate the dirty deals.
ENTERS REFORM ERA
Barr. Omotola appears knowledgeable and ready to tackle the challenges of his calling as the chief executive of the agency. This resonated at the recent capacity building forum of senior government procurement officials held in Lagos where he delivered a welcome speech and articulated his 4-point agenda.
The occasion was the 2024 Training For Conversion/ Induction into the Procurement Cadre in Parastatals, Institutions, Commissions and Agencies of The Federal Government of Nigeria on October 21, 2024 at the Festival Hotel, Festac, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos State, Lagos.
According to him, the Procurement Process reform marks an era of critical landscape which every stakeholder must understand, appreciate and participate in.
“As we embark on this journey together, it is essential to understand the landscape of Public Procurement Reform, the pivotal part you will play in its success, and the key behavioral elements that will set you apart as leaders in the procurement cadre,” he said.
Noting that “Public Procurement Reform is not just a buzzword,” he said, “it is a necessary evolution of our practice to meet the changing demands of the public sector and society at large.”
Itemising the pillars of his administration, he said, “Our journey of Public Procurement Reform will be driven under the following four pillars: Modernisation of legislative and regulatory framework; Strengthening of institutional framework and management capacity; Improvement of procurement operations and market practices; and Strengthening integrity of public procurement system.”
The Acting D-G who would not leave anything to guesswork or confined to the realm of ambiguity, took time to explain the details of the 4-pillar objective of the firm under his watch.
“Although the objectives of procurement reform are multifaceted, I would like to mention just a few of what we put on the front burner,” he explained.
These include the programme of modernizing the Public Procurement Regulatory Framework, simplifying and streamlining the procurement process, reducing the delivery timeline of BPP operations and implementing a re- engineering process to “ensure Organizational Culture Change, and Transform and Re-brand the BPP as a proactive and effective regulator and anti-corruption agency.” He paid tribute to the organization, institutions and groups that supported the agency in the fight against corruption.
According to Imokhuede, the objectives set out by the Acting D-G will surely redefine the culture of business as usual at BPP. I am pleased that he has a vision and has the capacity to pursue it, given his experience in the agency as head of the Legal unit.
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
