Mohammed Shosanya
Stakeholders in the civil society space in Nigeria,have implored President Bola Tinubu to constitute and inaugurate the National Council for Public Procurement and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, CIPSMN.
Rising from a one-day roundtable on “CSOs Strategic Alliance and Think=tank Against Public Procurement Corruption in Nigeria,the stakeholders,said the development was necessary in order to strengthen the fight against Procurement Corruption in the face of rising high profile cases in the country.
The meeting was hosted by Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN), in collaboration with Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA) and Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ).
The theme of the event was “Tackling High Level Corruption in Public Procurement”
A communique issued at the end of the event by Prof Ismaila Mande, National Univeristy of Nigeria,and Wisdom Olisa, NGO Network Victor Enejuire, Centre for Social Justice,explained that the inauguration of the NCPP and compliance with Sections 5 17 and 55 of the Public Procurement Act 2007 will ensure professionalism in the management and application of efficient procurement practice that will help in reducing corruption to its lowest minimum.
According to the communique, the procurement corruption which account for the larger parts of corruption as identified in previous research by CSOs as well as the Roundtable is as serious concerns to all the participants, and therefore resolved to engage new strategies by all stakeholder to tackle the phenomenon.
It added that that an enhanced partnership between government, particularly the Anti-corruption agencies, CSOs and professional bodies will help greater in the prevention of and fight against procurement corruption in Nigeria.
The communique quoted participants at the Roundtable as expressing their appreciation to the organizer of the event and pressing for more synergy, collaboration and partnership in the fight against misprocurement to reduce high level of corruption in the public sector
They also implored the legislators in the 10th Assembly to be alert and take note of the issues around procurement corruption to assist them in their oversight functions.
In his welcome address,Mohammed Bougei Attah,National Coordinator,Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative,explained that the invitation of key stakeholders to the meeting was informed by the rising cases of corruptions that appear to have defied all forms of prescriptions despite huge investments both in human and material resource to fight the menace.
He lamented that currently,corruption is not only fighting back, it appears to be winning the fight .
He said:”The theme of the Roundtable which is centered on procurement corruption is also informed by a research conducted in the year 2010 by NGO Network, a national CSO working with the three sectors of the economy, identified that procurement corruption either by acquisition or disposal accounts of over 70% of total corruption in the public sector, and this is related to processes in the system.
“The Roundtable therefore is the initiative of Procurement Observation and Advocacy Initiative (PRADIN) in collaboration with Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) and Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA).
“PRADIN is a select group of 50 non-state actors, trained under the 2010 Federal Government of Nigeria-World Bank Economic Reforms and Governance Project (ERGP) while CISLAC, ANEEJ and HEDA are renowned for their fight in the downstream and upstream sectors, high level institutional corruption in election and other political corruption issues.
“These four leading CSOs on anti-corruption fight therefore resolved to engage the fight with a new strategy by bringing the key stakeholders – the implementers, the regulators and the monitors – to a facilitated meeting, by creating the space for all to share ideas and strategies on how to addressing this ugly tendency further.
“We are of the belief that no one can solve this problem for us other than ourselves, and we must commit to nationalistic zeal in addressing the issue. It is therefore important to inform you that this meeting has been put together by these four CSOs without external funding, either by government or development partners. It is to demonstrate our commitment to this course.
“The main objective of the Roundtable as contained in the Concept Note (CN) sent earlier is to support the efforts of each of the stakeholders present here, particularly the ant-corruption agencies, in getting improved results. Ultimately, our hope is to set an agenda for fast-tracked reduction in corruption cases in Nigeria by taking procurement corruption with all our apparatuses.
“We recognize that key stakeholders are in our midst today, and our intention is to more from confrontation to consultation, therefore we hope with the team of experts here, the presentation and discussion will provide us with practical solutions in meeting the goal of the Roundtable”.
