By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – A call has been made for the Plateau State Bureau of Public Procurement to be strengthened and given its autonomy to enable it to carry out its responsibilities effectively.

The call was made in Jos at the weekend during the Plateau State Open Contracting stakeholders’ meeting where State and non-state actors deliberated on the challenges in open contracting and proffered solutions to the issues that would promote transparency and accountability in governance.

Speaking at the event organized by the Accountability Lab Nigeria through its Anti-Corruption Innovation Project, ACIP funded by the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, the stakeholders noted that everyone has a role to play in effective governance and urged citizens to get involved especially in monitoring any public-funded projects in their communities.

The Lead Facilitator, Onyekachi Chukwu pointed out the challenges in open contracting to include, “lack of citizens engagement (low data use), lack of technical capacity (insufficient work tools), low incentive for procurement officers, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation, political indifference/lack of political will, and no autonomy for the Bureau for Public Procurement, among other.”

He explained that there is a difference between the Government’s commitment and the will to be open in governance hence citizens, civil society organizations, and media active involvements could make a difference.

Alfred Agu, the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Associate of Accountability Lab Nigeria said his organization has worked with other partners to support and ensure sustainable collaborations among stakeholders around public procurement initiatives.

He stressed the collaborations have seen citizens pushing for transparency in the procurement processes, and the meeting is to spur the participants to talk about possible solutions and recommendations that would improve public procurement practices.

He highlighted that “… Procurement officers don’t have the tools to carry out their jobs efficiently, there’s some political interference in the processes and this is why we’re here to put our minds together, look for next steps on how we can find solutions and also make recommendations to the government…”

The Acting Director-General of the State Bureau of Public Procurement, Yabilsu Dogo pin-pointed some of the challenges of the Bureau including the lack of vehicles for monitoring, lack of office accommodation, and lack of adequate staff, among others, and listed some of the steps taken to address the issues.

His words, “We at the Bureau of Public Procurement, are not without challenges, challenges range from office accommodation to mobility and others. We have written to the government and the government is already taking necessary actions to mitigate them. The office was flooded recently. We are hopeful that these will be looked into.”

He asked everyone in the procurement sector to keep everything open as the name implies saying, “Nothing should be hidden in open contracting.”

Participants were drawn from the Ministries, Departments, Agencies, civil society organizations, and the media, and sensitized on effective procurement practices.