A’Ibom State BPC, USAID seek transparency in public procurement

The Akwa Ibom State Bureau of Public Procurement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has called for the entrenchment of transparency in public procurement practice to derive value for public funds.

The organisations said this during a 3-day training workshop which had as its centre point issues surrounding public finance management that ended on Saturday, 17 June 2021 in Uyo.

The knowledge-based event was a State2State activity aimed at building the capacity of key state and local government stakeholders to enable them better discharge procurement-related functions in their respective places of work.

Speaking, the Acting Executive Secretary of the Bureau, Mr Edem Bassey Okon stated that, the workshop is strategically designed to strengthen participants’ understanding of the State Public Procurement Law 2020 as well as build capacity on the use of annual procurement planning and audit templates.

Edem further explained that the State2State activity has enabled better delivery on their regulatory mandate, as well as opening up new frontiers in their endeavours to attain global best practices in public procurement.

“I acknowledge the vigorous coaction existing between the Akwa Ibom State Bureau of Public Procurement and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) –

State2State activity which to a large extent has translated into a series of training, workshop and capacity building activities,” Edem said.

He further explained that the training would deepen participants’ understanding of the provisions of the State Public Procurement Law 2020, especially as it relates to state-wide procurements and disposals. Adding that that would further entrench the culture of accountability, transparency and effectiveness as espoused by the law.

The facilitating consultant, Dr Kingsley Udeh in his lectures, described procurement as the acquisition by any means of Goods, Works and Services by the government.

He added that it could be by purchase, hire, lease concession, etc, using Open Competitive Bidding or other methods prescribed within the State Law.

Udeh anchored his lecture on the Procurement Cycle, Planning and Audit, saying full implementation would strengthen integrity in public procurement and funds management.

The workshop incorporated a “participants-centred learning” approach to making reception easier. This consisted of pre-test activity, group discussions and presentations, question and answer sessions post-test as well as the final hands-on population of the Templates to evaluate participants understanding of the subject matter.