Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo advocated for the strengthening of the procurement process to reduce the cost of governance across the three tiers.
The VP said with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) in view, Nigeria must ensure that all is done to procurement, environmental and social safeguards right.
The vice president spoke at the launch of the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project by the National Universities Commission in Abuja.
Osinbajo, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba noted that the huge amounts of financial resources that go into procurement activities pushes up the cost of governance and, in the process, encourages some form of financial waste.
He said: “Procurement, as we all know, touches on every sector of the economy, both public and private. Huge amounts of financial resources go into procurement activities and this undoubtedly pushes up the cost of governance and, in the process, encourages some form of financial waste.
“The National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government, with its objectives of restoring growth, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy strategically, captures the essence of the SPESSE project. The particular objective of investing in people has job creation and youth empowerment as one of the ways to invest. This, the government intends to achieve through the promotion of “Made-In- Nigeria” products and services, as well as prudent public procurement which takes account of local content and labor-intensive production processes.
“With the SDG and ERGP in view, we must get procurement, environmental and social safeguards right in Nigeria if we are to achieve the objectives of the two growth plans and make progress in reducing the high cost of governance in the public sector, as well as be strengthened by entrenching transparency and accountability at all levels of government, while issues relating to construction, rehabilitation and extension of existing buildings, acquisition/development of lands, purchase of laboratory equipment, disposal of reagents and samples taken from sick people and animals, amongst others must conform with world standards.”
