By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on Monday said it was coming up with strict strategies to block corruption in government Procurement Processes.

Director General of the Bureau, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, who made the disclosure in Abuja, said his agency was strengthening its audit systems in a bid to tackle corruption in the procurement system.

The Bureau was before the Committee on Public Procurement to defend its 2024 budget performance and 2025 proposals.

Adedokun however decried the budgetary ceiling placed on the agency, which he feared would hamper this objective among other strategies it plans to adopt to improve the system.

He said during the course of budget planning and preparation, the Bureau proposed the total sum of N72, 775, 250, 713, however the Budget Office allocated a ceiling of 3, 283, 021, 838. This sum, he noted, was in exclusion of Personnel budget of N649, 558, 451.59.

On the 2024 budget performance, he said a total sum of 2, 234, 785, 641 was allocated out of which N2, 110, 061, 164 was utilized.

He said the capital allocation of N289, 418, 688 for the year was inadequate to achieving any meaningful reforms and addressing the core mandates that will realize effective contract administration.

He added that only the sum of N184, 024, 690 of the sum for capital expenditure has so far been released.

Adedokun said the agency’s 2025 budget primarily focuses on addressing its office accommodation challenge, address monitoring and evaluation of projects throughout the nation, deliver an electronic procurement system to the country as well as build capacity.

While expressing gratitude to the Committee for the support it had shown the Bureau, he decried the paucity of funds and sought its assistance to get more money.

The DG said, “We also realise that we need to also intensify our audit exercise. It is better to prevent than to prosecute. Under our watch our strategy is to ensure we prevent misuse of funds through real time IT tools in procurement audit.

“We want to go digital in terms of our workflow, which means even if DG is not on seat, certification can be done anywhere in the country. We also provided for an upgrade of our national database of contractors and service providers.

“Under the 2025 budget, it would no longer be business as usual. We will be categorizing contractors meaning that contractors of equal competence must bid for projects within their funding capacity.

“I want to assure you that we have the capacity to transform the procurement space within the shortest possible time. We will do more if empowered financially.

“If we use procurement as a tool for good governance, it would reduce corruption and poverty and increase employment and industry if this appeal is given due consideration.

“BPP has the capacity to contribute significantly to the GDP of the country through the innovations we are bringing on board.”

Adedokun said the various achievements by the Agency over the years has been with very limited funding.

He said under his administration the Bureau is committed to making the contracting process even more efficient, transparent and competitive for foreign and local contractors.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon Unyime Idem, said they were mindful of the ceiling imposed on the agency and would do something about that.

“I want to assure you that what you have seen before us is the proposal, so we would engage the committee in charge of appropriation to ensure that those inadequacies in terms of funding are addressed,” he said.

Idem said the BPP remains a vital institution for the ability of any government to achieve good governance and deliver the dividends of democracy.

He said if the BPP improves its productivity in playing its full role, it will improve the quality of governance, procurement and project management.

“However, how can the above be achieved without an empowered BPP? I have looked at the data with respect to the allocation to the BPP in 2024, which indicates that it was allocated N2,234,785,641 and N2,110,061,164 was released under the 2024 budget.

“Under the budget proposal before the National Assembly, the Budget Office of the Federation and the Ministry of Budget and National Planning allocated to the BPP a maximum ceiling of N3,383,021,838, excluding personnel cost. This is notwithstanding the impact of inflation between January 2024 and January 2025.

“I have perused the Needs Assessment conducted by the BPP preparatory to the presentation of the extant budget, and I can see that the actual needs of the Bureau comes to about N72,775,250,713.

“I have noted that there are some major critical needs of the Bureau, for example, the Bureau does not have a befitting and functional Office accommodation. An important institution like the BPP that is reviewing huge projects and regulating all the major capital projects in Nigeria should have a befitting office.

“I urge the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to expedite action on leveraging technology to enhance its operations. To effectively regulate, review, and monitor public procurement, the BPP must deploy cutting-edge IT assets, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence.

“Notably, many countries have successfully transitioned to e- Procurement, achieving significant gains in efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency. I charge the BPP to prioritize the upgrade of its outdated digital infrastructure, including the National Contractors Database Intelligence, Price Intelligence and Monitoring, Asset Tracking and Management, and other critical systems, to ensure seamless and transparent public procurement processes,” he said.