‘Nigeria needs certified procurement officers to cut reckless spending, wastages’

For Nigeria to cut the cost of governance and reduce wastage in public offices, there is a need for President Bola Tinubu to appoint a certified procurement professional as the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mohammed Aliyu, registrar/CEO of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN), has said.

Aliyu said the poor handling of public tendering/procurement and activities of non-professionals in the management of government procurement, has brought wastages that result in stunted economic growth in the country.

He told journalists in Lagos recently that appointing professional procurement officers in BPP will help to encourage efficient and result-oriented practices in government-owned establishments and Nigeria as a whole.

He also said that non-professionals who fight to occupy procurement and supply chain management seats in government establishments, only give a bad name to the procurement profession with their ‘reckless attitude’.

“At this point, can we ask ourselves whether any organisation or nation can grow and even prosper without a vibrant and diligent procurement workforce? The answer is always a resounding no. Therefore, the office of the Director General of Public Procurement whether at the Federal or State levels cannot be occupied by just anybody. It must be only those people that have undergone the study in the art and science of procurement through structured, professional training offered by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria,” he said.

He called on Tinubu to save the country from wastages in the system resulting from bad procurement processes by adopting effective spend management principles through the employment of procurement and supply chain management professionals.

“Today, most government ministries, departments, agencies, and parastatals, among others are not transparent on issues regarding their procurement programmes, principles and practices. This does not augur well for greater prosperity for our dear country. Therefore, for Nigeria to be meaningfully operational and relevant in the years ahead, we must appoint professionals with the technical ability that would not only be crucial but decisive,” Aliyu said.

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Aliyu pointed out that procurement and supply chain management contribution is very key and central to good governance when it comes to efficient and quality service delivery to the citizenry.

He further called on President Tinubu to ensure the full implementation of the Presidential Executive Order 05 on Planning and Execution of Projects, Promotion of Nigerian Content in Contracts, Science, Engineering and Technology Innovation already gazetted by the Federal government.

Aliyu lamented that the Federal government has long neglected the procurement profession, saying that intellectually discerning and highly trained professional procurement personnel are needed now to save the system from collapse.

“It must also be realised from the World Bank study popularly referred to as Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR), Public Procurement Act 14 of 2007 and Presidential Executive Order 5 of 2018 should be a priority in the present scheme of things in Nigeria. If we are to attain the desired goals on a national basis, we must continually monitor the performance and the problems of Nigeria’s procurement and supply chain management,” he added.