Nigerian’s foremost regulatory agency for the implementation of procurement in Nigeria, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) was conspicuously absent at a roundtable on addressing the issues around procurement corruption in Nigeria.
The event held on Thursday August 24 in Abuja was tagged “CSOs Strategic Alliance and Think-tank Against Procurement Corruption” was
organized by four (4) leading anti-corruption NGOs and hosted by
Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN). Others are Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEET), Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).
Delivery a welcome address at the event, the national coordinator of PRADIN, Mohammed Bougei Attah informed the participants that the invitation was sent out to few and key stakeholders which include regulators, implementers and monitors in the business of procurement application in Nigeria. He said there is increasing spate of high profile corruption cases despite huge investment in both human and material
resources, making it necessary and urgent to address the issue since there is now a new Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinibu.
Furthermore, he said that it is no longer in doubt that procurement corruption alone accounts for over 70% total corruption in the public sector.
Participants at the roundtable therefore frowned at the glaring absence of BPP, a regulatory agency despite adequate notification and invitation. “It is a clear evidence that the Agency is not ready to fight corruption by professionalizing the system” declared Attah.
Participants however commended other anti-corruption agencies such in the Bureau of Public Services Reforms (BPSR), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The one-day strategic roundtable also have in attendance national coordinator of Strategy Implementation Task Office for Presidential Executive Order 5 (SITOPES) and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN) among several CSOs and the Media.
