Award contracts with sufficient funds, Bureau for Public Procurement charges Tertiary Institutions

The Director General, Bureau for Public Procurement, Alhaji Mamman Ahmadu, on Wednesday, warned TETFund beneficiary institutions against awarding contracts with insufficient funds.

Addressing participants at the second day of a three-day capacity building workshop on public procurement procedures for TETFund beneficiary Institutions in Kano, Ahmadu outlined the fundamental principles of procurement according to Section 16 and stressed that it must be based only on procurement plans and supported by prior budgetary appropriation.

According to him, the process of awarding contracts should be formalised until the funds to meet obligations are available and then competitive bidding can begin.

“The process must be transparent, timely, equitable, ensuring accountability, promote competition, economy and efficiency.” He said.

In his address, the Director General also disclosed that the capacity building workshop was timely and geared towards attaining the provision of the public procurement act.

”We are here today to build the capacity of accounting officers, principal officers, public officers, and other key players  and stakeholders in the procurement value chain,” he added.

Ahmadu charged the participants to judiciously utilise the experience to be acquired during the three-day workshop towards enhancing the standard of public procurement procedures.

Also, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, reaffirmed its readiness to ensure that beneficiary institutions adhere strictly to the public procurement processes, so as to curb corruption.

The Executive-Secretary of the agency, Architect Sonny Echono, made the disclosure at the opening ceremony of the workshop for TETFund beneficiary institutions, in collaboration with the Public Procurement Bureau.

According to him, the training programme was meant for the beneficiary institutions in the North-West and North-East.

Furthermore, Echono explained that the objective of the capacity building workshop, among others, was to equip the beneficiary tertiary institutions with the basic procurement processes toward addressing corrupt practices in all the TETFund projects nationwide.

Similarly, he noted that the three-day training programme would serve as a refresher training for desk officers of TETFund in the 246 enlisted beneficiary tertiary institutions across the country.

To this end, he appealed to the participants, comprising vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts, who assembled in Kano to utilise the opportunity and sharpen their skills and experience in public procurement law, so as to achieve the set objectives.

Prominent among those in attendance at the workshop were vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts from tertiary education institutions in the North-West and North-Eastern parts of the country.