Mediawave Ng …….Your reliable news platform.
The Lagos State Government has migrated 82 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to the e-procurement platform of the state Public Procurement Agency (PPA).
The Director-General of PPA, Mr Fatai Onafowote who made this known on Monday in Ikeja during a sensitisation programme organised for some Accounting Officers of MDAs in the state said e-procurement enhanced transparency, openness, inclusiveness, accountability and efficiency in public procurement.
He said the system was, therefore, mutually beneficial to both the state government, contractors and service providers.
The director-general said the feedback the agency had been receiving from the MDAs already onboarded on the platform had confirmed that the digitisation of the public procurement system was a right step taken.
Onafowote said the sensitisation programme was aimed at ensuring that key stakeholders in public procurement process of the state had a good knowledge and understanding of the operation of the e-procurement system.
He said that this would enable them work in synergy to collectively achieve the objective of continuously enhancing the state government’s policy on the ease of doing business in the state.
The director-general said the agency was already holding discussions with authorities of the Corporate Affairs Commission with a view to further enhance the digitisation process of public procurement process of the state to improve on the ease of doing business.
He said the agency would soon release the equipment required for the smooth operation of the e-procurement process to procurement officers deployed to the various MDAs.
Onafowote urged that Accounting Officers should show more interest in issues concerning public procurement, since they would be required to defend the budgets of their MDAs at the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, as well as at the State House of Assembly.
Meanwhile, the director-general had made similar presentations to members of the State Executive Council and members of the Body of Permanent Secretaries in the state.
Participants commended the agency for the efforts it was making in enhancing the ease of doing business through public procurement and the deployment of e-procurement solution modules in the public procurement process of the state.
They, however, urged the agency to devise appropriate strategies to further simplify the public procurement processes and give considerations for the peculiarities of some MDAs and their assigned functions.
The participants also stressed the need for continuous building of the capacity of Procurement Officers deployed to the various MDAs of the state.
