INSIDEMAINLAND– The Director-General of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Mr. Fatai Idowu Onafowote has emphasized that regular stakeholder involvement would guarantee a better understanding and synergy in the procurement process and speed up project delivery to citizens.
Onafowote stated this while welcoming participants to the roundtable discussion organized by the Agency to resolve observed divergent views and policies among Ministries, Departments and Agencies involved in the fiscal aspect of the procurement process flow.
The Director-General added that the programme was therefore designed to ensure that officials of affected MDAs understand what every other relevant office in the procurement fiscal regime does so that areas constituting bottlenecks in the procurement process could be reviewed or eliminated.
At the end of the roundtable discussion which featured five discussants, a 21-point communique highlighting what needs to be done to make the procurement process more seamless, was issued by the participants.
The participants came to the consensus that, in order to avoid project execution delays, the procurement procedure should be carried out by MDAs before Mr. Governor’s approval.
The meeting also recommended for all MDAs with project inspection responsibilities to implement collaborative project inspection and report harmonization.
Additionally, the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency was urged to step up its efforts to educate and inform all relevant participants in the procurement process, including political leaders, accounting officers, and other MDA officials who may be involved, as well as contractors and service providers, about the importance of adhering to the Procurement Law and other regulations governing public procurement.
The participants also urged that the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency send the Guidelines for Small and Medium Enterprises to all MDAs in the state as well as the updated list of insurance companies that the State Government has approved for the issuing of insurance bonds.
Accountants, internal auditors, budget and planning officers, budget and planning officers from the State Treasury Office (STO), the Office of Internal Audit, the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, and procurement officers from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency were among the attendees at the event, which took place at the Amber Residence, G.R.A., Ikeja, Lagos.
Mr. Akintunde Omomofe, a governance reform consultant with deep expertise in important facets of public financial management, including budgeting, finance and accounting, revenue administration, public procurement, audit reforms, and human resource management, served as the roundtable’s moderator.
