Sunday Okobi
The management of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) at the weekend partnered with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to train and build the capacity of the agency’s staff to follow due process.
The training was also aimed at ensuring that the staff work in line with extant regulations in carrying out financial obligations and procurement especially with its new funding status and return under direct supervision by the presidency.
The agency’s Managing Directors/Chief Executives from the 10 research and development (R&D’s) Institutes and top management staff whose duties directly relate to procurement and financial operations and other principal officers in NASENI system-wide were trained for two days at Zuba in Niger State.
The training on procurement capacity building with the theme: ‘Strengthening Procurement Process in NASENI System Wide’, examined some of the pitfalls surrounding procurement procedures, rules and regulations, including the common practices which made procurement officers acted contrary to the laws and the accompanying punishments.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, who authorised the training, during the opening ceremony, said the training was to ensure that extra care would be taken in carrying out procurement activities in the agency and also to update concerned officers on the need to follow procedures on procurement laws to get value for the money spent on any given project by the federal government.
Haruna said: “With our new status of being supervised by the president directly, we know that extra care is needed. We are taking this caution most especially because before now, we were operating without funds and now that funds had been given to us, there is need to cross check again which new measures are needed for effective service delivery.”
He said the agency had undergone several transformations recently, including training and retraining of staff on special needs to ensure that the management and staff of NASENI were on top of their games, and that whatever staff did would be in line with best practices.
The executive vice chairman said: “Just as we are rated number one in technology, research and innovation, we should be rated same way in following due process too in whatever we do.
“Since the agency is under the supervision of the president, it cannot afford to leave any stone unturned in ensuring that the right thing is done with the special fund allocated to it. We cannot afford to disappoint the president. We are obligated to be accountable and to follow due process.”
In order to effectively accomplish the aim of the training workshop, the agency brought senior resource persons from the ICPC, BPP, Auditor General of the Federation and also Accountant General of the Federation to deliver on the workshop training modules by themselves.
The officers, who were invited from various institutions at the two-day training, took turns to put the NASENI staff through various extant regulations and knowledge of procurement processes, including other related matters to keep them informed and prevent them from running afoul of the laws.
In his goodwill message at the opening ceremony, the Auditor- General of the Federation, Mr. Adolphus Aghughu, enjoined NASENI to maintain the highest level of transparency, accountability and fiscal discipline in public procurement, saying these were the main reasons the laws on public procurement were enacted in 2007.
