The Nigerian Army on Monday flagged off a 3-day Procurement seminar for Chief Clerks and Procurement Clerks from all its branches, formations and Corps in Abuja, with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai emphasizing the importance of capacity building in the areas of institutional and human resource development for effective procurement activities.
Represented by the Chief of Policy and Plans, Army Headquarters, Major General Ali Nani, the COAS said, “As a way of ensuring the efficient utilization of available resources for procurement of needed materials including fighting equipment, the Nigerian Army keyed into the Procurement Act 2007 by establishing the directorate of procurement on my assumption of duty as COAS in 2015”.
“Since the establishment of the directorate, the Nigerian Army recognizes the need for promotion of enabling regulations guiding procurement activities and interaction with external stakeholders as ways of improving the Nigerian Army Procurement process.
Towards this end he noted that Army headquarters has conducted three procurement seminars for the officer’s cadre who would at one time or the other be deployed in procurement related roles.
“Recognizing the special role of procurement clerks in the procurement and logistics chain management, it would only be important to also develop the capacity of Chief Clerks and other procurement clerks by way of exposing them to the fundamentals of procurement practices and procedures”, the COAS said.
“It is on this note that I directed the conduct of this seminar with the theme, ‘Building Capacity of Chief Clerks and Procurement Clerks for Effective Procurement System in the Nigerian Army’, he added.
In her address, Permanent Secretary, ministry of Defence, Hajia Nuratu Batagarawa observed that “In spite of the sanity that the procurement Act has brought into the public procurement system, a few individuals have continued to erroneously view the act as unnecessary tool of bureaucracy introduced to impede progress”.
“This is unfortunate misconception. The basic goal of the procurement act in Nigeria, as in other climes, is to engender competition, transparency, integrity, best value for money, efficiency and the promotion of the standardization required for the elimination of the acquisition of obsolete and dysfunctional equipment”.
Continuing she said, “Overall, the procurement act encourages a broad participation of the widest possible pool of prospective providers of the required public goods or services in an open and transparent manner”.
Earlier, Acting Director of Procurement, Brigadier General Ephraim Essien, disclosed that based on the theme of the seminar, 5 lectures and a playlet have been programmed to be delivered by eminent resource persons to deepen the knowledge of all participants on the PPA 2007 and other procurement regulations.
