Collins Nnabuife
The Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Abubakar has charged members of the Management of the Commission to ensure strict compliance with the country’s Public Procurement Act provisions.
The NIMC boss gave the charge while delivering his remarks at a 3-day Interactive Workshop on Procurement and understanding of the World Bank procurement process, procedures, and Ecosystem Enrolment readiness, which was held on Monday in Lagos, organized by the Nigeria Digital Identification for Development (ID4D) Project, in collaboration with NIMC.
This is contained in a statement jointly signed by the Nigeria Digital ID4D Project Communications Manager, Dr Walter Duru and NIMC’s Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke, the NIMC.
According to the statement, the NITDA CEO stressed that the event was put together to enhance the capacity of the Management team on the provisions and application of the country’s Public Procurement Act.
He spoke on the need for similar training to be held more frequently to ensure the improved team members’ capacity on contemporary public procurement issues.
While speaking on the workshop objectives, the Project Coordinator, of Nigeria Digital Identification Project, Musa Odole Solomon described the meeting as geared towards updating participants on contemporary issues in procurement, adding that “there was the need for understanding the meeting point between the country’s procurement laws and the World Bank’s procurement regulations.”
The Director, of Legal and Regulatory Affairs at NIMC, Hadiza Dagabana called for the amendment of Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act.
According to her, “the Public Procurement Act was passed in 2007. We are in 2023. Many things have changed over the years and there are so many gaps in the Act. It is time for an amendment.”
She described the workshop as impactful, urging the participants to put into practice the knowledge acquired.
In her “Overview of Public Procurement Act (2007) and its convergence with the World Bank Procurement Regulations for Borrowers,” Ag. Director of Procurement at the National Identity Management Commission, Princess Nkoyo Iwok, called on public institutions in Nigeria to embrace transparency and accountability in all their transactions, reiterating that sanctions apply for violation of the public procurement law.
Iwok identified some common offences in procurement as “bid rigging, collusion, splitting of contracts, procurement fraud, altering procurement documents, willful refusal to allow bureau and its officer’s access to any procurement records and using fake documents.”
She highlighted some of the sanctions for violation of the Public Procurement Act including imprisonment, upon conviction, among others.
On the convergence between World Bank Procurement Guidelines for Borrowers & Nigeria Public Procurement Act 2007, Iwok stressed that “both the World Bank Procurement Guidelines and Nigeria’s Public Procurement Law emphasize the importance of procurement planning.”
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
