Abuja: The Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Enhancement Center of Excellence (SPESSECE) has advocated for the adoption of e-procurement processes by government at all levels to curb corrupt practices. The SPESSECE coordinator for the FCT, Katsina, Jigawa, and Sokoto States, Dr. Lawal Salisu, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Salisu spoke on the sideline of a training program organized for procurement officers drawn from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. He explained that SEPESSECE is a World Bank-sponsored project focused on improving the capacity of federal, state, and local government personnel in procurement. The project aims to enhance social and environmental standards to ensure a sustainable procurement process in Nigeria.
The coordinator emphasized that the training is an effort to educate participants on e-procurement and environmental procurement. He noted that conventional procurement methods involve manual processes requiring physical meetings, which can foster corruption. Salisu asserted that reducing physical meetings in procurement processes, from advertisement through to award, could help in curbing corrupt practices.
Salisu also pointed out a significant challenge in the procurement process in Nigeria: the lack of professionals. He highlighted that aside from the federal government, a procurement cadre does not exist in most states. He stressed the need for personnel with academic knowledge and professional certifications in public procurement, who understand the consequences of misleading the executive in procurement matters.
