By Lucky Isibor,
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has sent an amendment to the Edo State procurement law to the Edo State House of Assembly. The law is being amended to make the Edo State Procurement Agency completely Independent by expanding the Governing Board to include more professionals to drive its policy direction and enhance value for money in all the state government’s procurement.
The Managing Director of Edo State Procurement Agency, Henry Idogun made this known Thursday, 20 August while making his remarks at the opening of a two-day workshop for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and journalists on procurement observation and open contracting, organized by Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice ANEEJ, in Benin City.
“We have before the House of Assembly now a bill that will give us a brand new law with the assistance of Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (ROLAC).
“We have to revise the law because of some issues that have arisen in the cause of it’s implementation. One of thematic is the composition of the board. We have a board in place but donor partners and other international agencies have complained, criticised the composition of our governing board to have some degree of Independence and so we have now expanded the scope and composition.
“We brought in other professionals and other organs of society such that at the end of the day the board will be completely Independent and should be able to function very well for the interest of the society.”
While thanking ROLAC for its technical support in drafting the new bill and capacity building in improving the professional efficiency of the agency, Idogun enumerated some of the steps the state government has taken to enhance transparency and accountability in all its procurement processes.
“ROLAC has supported our agency to revise our law. ROLAC, we thank you for the work you are doing in Edo State and many other states in Nigeria.
“One of the first things we did when the agency was established is to create and make functional the procurement officer’s cadre at the state and local government levels.
“Our laws cover not just the state organs, the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in the state, but also the local government and indeed every organ in the state that derives their funding or part of their funding from the Edo State share of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
“Capacity building has been top on our agenda. We have been building capacity and will continue to do so within the available resources and all these are to ensure we have knowledgeable men and women who will drive procurement reforms in our state and so that the benefits of procurement can begin to trickle down”, Idogun stressed.
Welcoming participants to the workshop, the Executive Director of ANEEJ, Rev. David Ugolor said, “one of the project’s objective is to support CSOs/ media advocacy for the implementation of Open Governance Partnership commitments in Edo State as part of effort to improve oversight, transparency and accountability in the management of resources while also targeting corruption prevention measures.”
Reverend Ugolor who was represented by Leo Atakpu, a Director at ANEEJ, reiterated that, “the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice is currently implementing the Civil Society Advocacy to Support Anti-Corruption and Rule of Law in Nigeria (CASARN) programme funded by the European Union and implemented by the British Council.”
While stating that over eighty percent of corruption in government is connected to procurement, Ugolor urged members of civil societies to keep close watch on how government spend public funds and award contracts.
“We encourage all participants to take it upon themselves to keep a close watch on how government spend public funds and award contracts, follow up with government expenditure through procurement observation and reporting. The bulk of government business is to undertake procurement of goods, services and works. Available literatures suggest that over 80% corruption within the government circle is connected to public procurement.”
