The Director- General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr Mamman Ahmadu on Friday attributed insufficient knowledge of procurement processes by procurement officers as the bane of corruption in the country.
He said this during the inauguration of the Public Procurement Research Centre (PPRC), a partnership between BPP and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, established to train procurement officers on due process of procurement.
“When you have sufficient knowledge of procurement and the reason it was initiated, then you will buy into the need to procure whatever is being procured properly, then corruption will exit itself naturally.
“Sometimes it is lack of understanding that makes people get into corruption,” he said.
Ahmadu said that the nation’s previous procurement proceedings varied from institution to institution, but added that with the introduction of training and research centres, the entire process would be streamlined.
He also said that procurement process emphasised good value for money and not necessarily the cheapest prices.
“Now things are being streamlined and slightly centralised so that we have common objectives which are shared and through the process of procurement the best quality is achieved.
“Not necessarily the lowest price because the lowest price sometimes is just for that moment alone.
“Projects well achieved have life span and the bureau is focusing on a procurement value that delivers good quality service across the life span of the project so that value is achieved.”
He added that it was usually erroneously thought that value for money was about getting the lowest price but that it was not so.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, said that the partnership between the institution and the BPP was welcomed, as it would give procurement officers the needed knowledge on the process.
He added that although the research centre which was being built on the university premises was not completed, the university had provided facilities to be used for training officers.
“We will not wait for the structure to be completed to commence the training.
“We thought it fit to commence the training for 2017 in our facilities around the university so that we do not lose the time.
“Together we are going to ensure that we work to make the government’s objective on public procurement work.”
Pro-chancellor and the Chairman, Governing Council, Mr Muhammed Dewu said that the university would continually assist the Federal Government in actualising the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
This, he said the university would be do by organising training and development programmes for procurement professionals.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the centre, which has capacity for more than 500 qualified participants at once would commence its first course in February 2017.
The centre, the second established by BPP, is meant to cater to the training needs of procurement officers in the Northern region.
The first one was established by the bureau at Federal University of Technology, Owerri while the third is expected to be established soon at the University of Lagos. (NAN)
