By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – Lack of funds, inadequate manpower, lack of office space, inadequate training and others have been identified as some of the challenges limiting optimal performance at the Plateau State Bureau of Public Procurement.
Despite the challenges, the Director General of the Bureau, Peter Dogo, who mentioned them during an interaction with some journalists recently trained on integrity and accountability in leadership by Accountability Lab Nigeria stressed efforts are being made to increase the number of government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) operating electronic procurement platform to ensure accountability and efficiency.
He explained that before 2017, procurement was done haphazardly until the Bureau came on board to regulate public procurement and so far, the State Ministries of Secondary Education, Agriculture, Works and Health are on the e-procurement platform with efforts being made to bring others on board as two other Ministries would be added to the four by next year.
He maintained that there is transparency in the processes as, “No procurement is carried out if it is not captured in the approved budget of the State, to know how much is allocated for the project. We also verify that the contractor is competent and can handle a project… The guidelines on public procurement are strictly adhered to…”
He expressed delight that the MDAs are complying with the laid down processes of public procurement and charged citizens to show interest in the processes to be able to hold authorities accountable.
Earlier, the journalists intimated that they were in the office to ask questions and understand the workings of the office so that they would be enlightened to give credible information to the public.
Source: Vanguard
Last modified: December 9, 2022
