Abuja – The Acting Director General, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr Ahmed Abdu said training members of the bureau staff on new procurement practices would aid proper implementation of 2016 budget.
He said this, on Wednesday, in Abuja, at the opening of a six-day capacity training organised for staff members to acquaint them with new technologies and practices in procurement process.
He said that such training was one of the objectives of the bureau.
The six-day training is targeted at equipping 50 senior management staff and medium level officers involved in procurement process.
“It is one of the mandates of BPP to build capacity and you cannot build capacity if you don’t have the necessary skills.
“The idea is that by the time we acquaint and train ourselves then we will be able to train others in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“We will also use that knowledge to do our work especially now that budget has been signed so that the training can help us in implementing the 2016 budget as desired.’’
Ahmed said that the facilitators, Crown Agents from the United Kingdom, were invited because they were at the forefront of best practices in public procurement.
One of the facilitators, Mr David Wells, said the programme would entail training on principles of good public procurement.
He said that it was very important that anyone involved in public procurement anywhere in the world to understand the principles of the legislation and good practice in procurement.
“We always have to remember that we are spending public money and we have a duty to ensure that we spend wisely and that the value for principles is followed.
“We also have to ensure that we do get best use of those public funds and get good quality services and facilities that we buy through the public purse.
He said that the rules are there to be followed but that people have to be made to understand them and what the penalties are for breaches.
“ It is all about good practices and putting in proper controls at the most effective points.
“This is to ensure that breaches do not take place or if they take place then the penalties and the punishments are applied and that it’s done consistently as well.’’
Debo Adedokun, Head, Research, Training and Strategic Planning of the bureau, said that continuous training of staff was necessary to help officers handle the new developments in procurement processes.
“So the idea is to see how we can equip ourselves to deal with recent developments in terms of procurement, fast tracking budget implementation and addressing challenges that MDAs go through.
“Now that the budget has been passed it is important for us to close the capacity gaps that we have identified.
“This gives us the assurance that we are set to help MDAs implement their budgets in accordance to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act (PPA).’’
One of the participants, Mr Babatunde Kuye, Director, Energy Infrastructure Department said that they would also be able to pass on the knowledge acquired to procurement officers in the MDAs.
“Once we are abreast of the new trends in procurement and well equipped with the skills we will be able to pass on this to the MDAs.
“The first step is for people to be aware of rules and regulations and how best to implement them and when they are sufficiently aware it becomes easy to prevent corruption.
“The issue of non compliance will be reduced and with that the incidences of manipulation of processes will ceas.
“Consequently, we can treat the few cases of people who are aware and decide to do the wrong thing.’’ (NAN)
