Juliet Akoje in Abuja

The Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, yesterday, said the agency was strengthening its audit systems in a bid to tackle corruption in the procurement system in the country.

Adedokun, made this known when he appeared before the Committee on Public Procurement to defend the Bureau’s 2024 budget performance and 2025 proposal.

He raised concern over the budgetary ceiling placed on the agency which he feared could hamper the objective among other strategies it plans to adopt to improve the system.

“The course of budget planning and preparation, the Bureau proposed the total sum of N72, 775, 250, 713. However, the Budget Office allocated a ceiling of N3, 283, 021, 838. This sum, he noted, was in exclusion of personnel budget of N649, 558, 451.59.”

On the 2024 budget performance, he said a total sum of 2, 234, 785, 641 was allocated out of which N2, 110, 061, 164 was utilised.

“The capital allocation of N289, 418, 688 for the year was inadequate to achieving any meaningful reforms and addressing the core mandates that will realise effective contract administration. Only the sum of N184, 024, 690 of the sum for capital expenditure has so far been released.

“The agency’s 2025  budget primarily focuses on addressing its office accommodation challenge, address monitoring and evaluation of projects throughout the nation, deliver an electronic procurement system to the country as well as build capacity.”

While expressing gratitude to the Committee for the support it had shown the Bureau, he decried the paucity of funds and sought its assistance to get more money.

“We also realise that we need to intensify our audit exercise. It is better to prevent than to prosecute. Under our watch our strategy is to ensure we prevent misuse of funds through real time IT tools in procurement audit.

“We want to go digital in terms of our workflow, which means even if DG is not on seat, certification can be done anywhere in the country. We also provided for an upgrade of our national database of contractors and service providers.

“Under the 2025 budget, it would no longer be business as usual. We will be categorising contractors, meaning that contractors of equal competence must bid for projects within their funding capacity.

“I want to assure you that we have the capacity to transform the procurement space within the shortest possible time. We will do more if empowered financially.

“If we use procurement as a tool for good governance, it would reduce corruption and poverty and increase employment and industry if this appeal is given due consideration.

“The BPP has the capacity to contribute significantly to the GDP of the country through the innovations we are bringing on board.”

Adedokun further said the various achievements by the Agency over the years had been with very limited funding.

Under his administration, he said the Bureau was committed to making the contract process even more efficient, transparent and competitive for foreign and local contractors.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Unyime Idem, said they were mindful of the ceiling imposed on the agency and would do something about that.

Edem added: “I want to assure you that what you have seen before us the proposal, so we would engage the committee in charge of appropriation to ensure that those inadequacies in terms of funding are addressed.

“The BPP remains a vital institution for the ability of any government to achieve good governance and deliver the dividends of democracy.

“Notably, many countries have successfully transitioned to e- Procurement, achieving significant gains in efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency.

“I charge the BPP to prioritise the upgrade of its outdated digital infrastructure, including the National Contractors Database Intelligence, Price Intelligence and Monitoring, Asset Tracking and Management, and other critical systems, to ensure seamless and transparent public procurement processes.”

Was this article helpful?
YesNo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Close Search Window