By Felix Khanoba
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has stressed the need for transparency and accountability in procurement processes for the overall growth of the nation.
The vice president made the call at the launch of Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement(SPESSE) Project, a World Bank Assisted Project in Abuja on Thursday.
Osinbajo, who noted that procurement touched on every sector of the economy, stressed that huge amount of financial resources often went into procurement, thereby encouraging some form of financial waste.
“The procurement system must be strengthened by entrenching transparency and accountability at all levels of government.
“Issues relating to construction, rehabilitation and extension of existing buildings, acquisition and development of lands, purchase of laboratory equipment, disposal of reagent and samples from sick people and animals, amongst others must conform with world standards.
“To achieve these, there is an absolute need to build adequate technical capacity required for efficient and effective procurement, environmental and social safeguard systems,” the Vice President, represented by Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba said.
He expressed optimism that investment in the SPESSE project would help institutionalise the practice of procurement, environmental and social standards in Nigeria.
The vice president disclosed that the SPESSE project was in line with the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government, aimed at restoring growth, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy.
He pointed out that “the particular objective of investing in people has job creation and youth empowerment as one of the ways to invest.”
Osinbajo commended the National Universities Commission(NUC) for its role in helping to institutionalise the study of procurement, environmental and social standards in the Nigerian University System.
He commended other stakeholders for working towards the success of the SPESSE project, while stating that the choice six centres, each in one of the six geopolitical zones would ensure inclusiveness and guarantee maximum benefits.
In his remarks, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, expressed optimism that the project would yield desired result.
He said, “there is need for human capital development and this is what this project has to offer.
“I am trilled that this critical need is going to be addressed through SPESSE.
“We look forward to working with all of you.”
In his remarks, the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the journey towards the launch of the project was painstaking.
Represented by his deputy, Dr Chris Mayaki, the NUC boss however, expressed joy that the journey towards offering professional and academic activities to ensure good governance, effectiveness in service delivery among other things had started.
On his part, the SPESSE project Coordinator, Dr Joshua Atah said SPESSE, a five year project, has a total budget of 80 million dollars, with 37.5 per cent being allocated for technical assistance.
He added that the remaining 62 per cent would only by disbursed based on performance, using Disbursement Link Indicators (DLI).
According to him, six centres of excellence have been earmarked to run the courses for the project.
He listed the centres as “University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology Owerri, University of Benin, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi.”
Atah noted that the target was to train about 25,240 candidates within the lifespan of the project in the six chosen universities, where about 30 short courses will be offered among other things.
Atah said over 3000 short courses would be available for female students because of the gender friendly nature of the project, while 30 per cent of the entire learning process of the project would be online.
He pointed out “that 11 entities are saddled with the responsible of implementing the project, including NUC, Ministry of Finance among others.
“The project is aimed at developing sustainable capacity in managing procurement, environmental and social standards in the public and private sectors.
“About 66 per cent of the resources for this project will be dedicated to procurement, while environmental and social standards enhancement would allocated 16 per cent.
“The Federal Government took a bold step approached the World Bank and took a credit to build capacity in procurement, environmental and social standards to enhance sustainable development and that is what we are launching today.”
