The Citizen Engagement Director and Advisory Team Lead for USAID- State2State project, Ahmed Mohammed has charged civil servants in Bauchi State to work in collaboration with civil society organisations (CSOs) as partners to reform public procurement.  

Mohammed made the plea at the capacity building workshop on public procurement for CSOs in Bauchi organised by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).  

The training is part of the public procurement component of the Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency, and Effectiveness (State2State) to strengthen governance structures in six states in Nigeria to improve their ability to plan and budget, raise revenues, increase civil society participation, and oversee service delivery in the health; education; and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sectors. 

According to Mohammed, the training is aimed at enhancing the capacity as CSOs in Bauchi state in the procurement process. “We want you to put this training into proactive use and in a humble manner,” he told participants.  

“You are going to be adding value to the process. Civil servants should see the CSOs as partners in the reform process especially in the basic education sector, health, water-sanitation-and-hygiene,” he added

On his part, Jinjiri Garba of the Bauchi State Network of Civil Society Organizations (BASNEC) narrated a firsthand experience when the network was invited for an open bidding process and noted that there was a 10-day period to indicate interest based on a check list after which five bidders were chosen to write a proposal. 

Earlier, the Executive Chairman, Bauchi State Budget Monitoring, Price Intelligence and Public Procurement Agency, Engineer Joshua Sanga, disclosed that the state has introduced e-procurement with the inclusion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in its Public Procurement Law, 2020. 

He said that with the law in place, the Agency will ensure transparency and accountability in public procurement and the award of contracts in the state. 

Sanga who noted that there was no e-procurement in the previous procurement law said, “initially there wasn’t any provision for that, where any contractor desirous of working for Bauchi state will tender online”. 

“But now, it is e-procurement, and this will really reduce or eliminate the issue of corruption of favouritism or anything in public procurement, where people can tender online”. It is an electronic process where human interference will be limited.”