In what appears as a long awaited intervention amid the wake up call to tackle the crises in public and private procurement management system in Nigeria, the upcoming National Seminar on Public Procurement Management has received overwhelming responses.
The one-day virtual event, which is being organized by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, CIPSMN will be hosted on the theme: Rule of Law, Growing Procurement Challenges and Sustainable National Development.
Already, the IT Firm powering the event, announced over 200 registrants so far. The record shows registrants cut across all sectors of the economy, ranging from procurement professionals, practitioners, sector specialists, students and public sector finance, engineering, law and other areas. Slated for Thursday February 13, high-level stakeholders from the government, private and the not-for-profit sectors have so far been confirmed in the resource faculty.
Speaking on the event recent in Lagos, the President of CIPSMN, Alh. Sikiru Balogun said the Seminar is free for all Nigerians to participate as part of the Institute’s contributions in addressing the growing concerns and challenges confronting the practice, implementation and application of the Public Procurement Act 2007, CIPSMN Act 2007 and others relevant laws. The Seminar therefore according to the President, is designed to provide clearer understanding of the practice and the basic requirements, and the urgent need to address huge corruption cases associated with the public sector, both among the practitioners and regulators.
In the faculty, therefore, the management of the Institute has invited Engr. Dr. Ibiam Oguejiofo, the National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer, Strategy Implementation Task Office for Presidential Executive Order 5. Apart from being a Fellow of the Institute, Engr. Ibiam is a seasoned administrator and posses relevant qualifications as member of several professional bodies in Nigeria. He is scheduled to deliver the lead paper
Another rich and versed person in the business of procurement management in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Bougei Attah, the National Coordinator of Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative, PRADIN, a select group of non-state actors, trained under the Federal Government of Nigeria-World Bank Economic Reforms and Governance Project, ERGP 2010. Attah is a certified procurement professional, an international civil society activist and currently serves as the Africa Regional Coordinator of the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, WANGO. He will be the moderator for the e-seminar
To balance the views and give the Seminar a nationally-broad approach, the faculty discussants have been selected from the private, public and the non-profit sectors. They include Dr. Arimie Biebele of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Barrister Eze Onyekpere, the Lead Director of Centre for Social Justice, CSJ and Dr. Abdul Mamman, the North Central Coordinator of the CIPSMN.
Others to serve in the faculty include Barr. Ayo Adebusoye, Secretary General, Nigeria Network of Non-Governmental Organisations, NNNGO, Lagos as well as Mr. Michael Fadipe of the SPESSE Project, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Certificates of participation will be issued to participants after the event as the President, Alh. Balogun said.
