From Jude Dangwam, Jos

Stakeholders in Plateau State has called for a legislation that would grant the Plateau State Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP) autonomy to operate and not be under a Ministry to enable the Bureau attained it’s full potentials as an establishment that oversees the judicious use of public funds through public-procurement in the state.

They also expressed concerned over the deplorable condition of the office of the Plateau State Bureau of Public Procurement (PSBPP) agency recently over flooded with water as a result of the heavy downpour in the state, affecting the workings of the agency a situation they said call for urgent attention. They made the submissions during a stakeholder’s engagement with procurement officers across the state, civil society organizations, Media practitioners among others at Crispan Hotel in Jos the state capital.The stakeholders’ engagement is part of the Anti-Corruption Innovation Project (ACIP) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) implemented by Accountability Lab Nigeria in Plateau State, Edo and Ekiti States towards bringing citizens onboard to participate in the monitoring of public funded project being implemented in their respective communities.The Lead Facilitator of Accountability Lab Nigeria, Onyekachi Chukwu noted that some of the challenges confronting the optimal operations of Open Contracting in Nigeria consist of lack of awareness by citizens, poor welfare of procurement officers, technical know-how, and insufficient manpower among others.”Some of the challenges confronting BPP in the country consist of lack of citizens engagement (low data use), lack of technical capacity (insufficient work tools), low incentives for procurement officers, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation, political indifference/lack of political will, and no autonomy for the Bureau for Public Procurement,” he statedChukwu further stress that citizens must know the difference between government commitments during political campaigns and the political will to drive good governance anchored on transparency and accountability which the involvement of civil society organizations, the media and citizens will propelled the actualization of the set goals of BPP not only in Plateau state but the country at large.The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Associate of the Accountability Lab Nigeria, Alfred Agu said the organization has continued to work with various stakeholders to better the public procurement processes in abiding to address elements of corruption embedded in the award of contracts as well as the procurement of public contracts in the state.He said the stakeholders’ engagement was aimed at bringing solutions to the challenges hindering the full performance of the State Bureau for Public Procurement in the state.”Procurement officers don’t have the tools to carry out their jobs efficiently, there is some political interference in the processes and this is why we’re here to put our minds together, look for the next steps on how we can find solutions and also make recommendations to the government.”This engagement has given us a lot of meaningful feedback from stakeholders and non-stakeholders. The feedback will be drafted and put forward to government so that there can be a policy reformation with a push on gender by having a woman also on the table of procurement, and I’m sure a lot will be achieved going forward” He notedThe Acting Director General of the Plateau State Bureau for Public Procurement, Yabilsu Michael Dogo expressed gratitude for the engagement, and noted that if the resolutions reached at the end of the stakeholders’ engagement are properly implemented, the state will be a reference point in the country in terms of Open Contracting which engendered good governance to citizens.