The Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement BPP, Dr. Adebowale .A. Adedokun,says there is much benefit in preventing corruption rather than waiting to fight corruption.
The DG made this known while receiving the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) delegation led by its president Mazi. Afam Josiah Osigwe SAN who were in his office in Abuja to strengthen the relationship between the Bureau and NBA.
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Dr. Adebowale ascribe the NBA visit as game changer, historic, unique and landmark on which the law will be respected and partnership with different professional bodies will take their rightful place.
He emphasized on the fight against the misuse of contract opportunities to the detriment of Nigerian people, as he demands an agreement of signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between BPP and NBA in the areas of capacity building, contract agreement, litigation, understanding the provisions of the law, managing and interpreting the law as well as eliminating quacks in court cases that relate to procurement.
He further urged the NBA to place premium on professionalism by setting up a section that is well equipped with the understanding and handling of procurement laws.
The DG pointed out that, BPP has been doing quite a number of initiatives in recent times as he highlighted recent available online completed work on the use of Revised Standard Bidding Document’ which reflects sector base procurement; Document on Information Technology (IT); Document on Auctioning and Health Procurement etc. and urged the NBA to educate lawyers and the public on the utilization of the newly revised documents.
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BPP working on Community Base Procurement which addresses and empowers people in the local level to take responsibilities, by setting up procurement guidelines and principles to enable people within the community bid for projects as well as keep resources within the locality.
Electronic Government Procurement for the ease of doing business, transparency and for easy storage and retrieval of documents.
Affirmative Procurement which involves women and youth empowerment in procurement process that gives preferences and favorable conditions to women, youths and people with disability.
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BPP has developed a system whereby all contractors, consultants and service providers must be registered and meet up with necessary requirement. More premium is placed on the Interim Registration Report (IRR), a compulsory document for all contractors and consultants. Therefore, no Government Agency gives contract without the evidence of Interim Registration Report (IRR).
The Director-General stressed on the avoidance of signing contracts in disfavor and detriment of the Nigerian people, and calls on lawyers to desist from it.
The President, Nigerian Bar Association, Mazi. Afam Osigwe, SAN, commended the leadership of BPP as he looks forward to utilizing the law to ensure that public loss in public procurement is reduced to the barest minimum. Mazi Osigwe stressed that BPP is a pivotal office to visit and collaborate with for national growth.
He pointed out the importance of Public Procurement and how NBA budget has been operated at deficit for number of years. Adding that, with more efficiency, transparency and accountability the volume of debt will be reduced.
He agreed on professionalizing the legal procurement aspect, that will produce more lawyers who are experts and knowledgeable to guide both the public and private organizations on the imperativeness of complying with the law to ensure that the right thing is done.
The visit underscored the shared commitment of both BPP and NBA to preventing corruption and enhancing procurement governance to the benefit of Nigerians.