Director-General of the Delta State Public Procurement Commission, Mr. Edwin Abraka has embarked on an interface with the Local Government Service Commission on the need to implement the Delta State Public Procurement Law in the councils.
Addressing the Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Hon. (Dcn.) Joseph Otirhue, during a courtesy visit to the latter, recently in Asaba, Mr. Abraka said the purpose of the visit was to make “an appeal for cooperation and synergy between both establishments, request to help establish Procurement Units in the LG councils that will operationalize the Delta State Public Procurement Law at the local government level, bearing in mind that the Procurement Cadre has since been created and adopted in the state.”
Other reasons given by Abraka included to “advise for effective implementation, while the Procurement Unit should be reporting directly to the accounting officer of the council, that is the HPM”, just as the DG added that “there is an ongoing discussion on inter-cadre transfer of Procurement Officers and their placement on lateral transfer instead of the current practice of stepping them down to the entry point of the cadre.”
The DG also emphasized on the need for training collaboration between both commissions.
The DG’s itinerary included Mr. Anthony Jibunma, Director, Administration, Engr. Obas Okekeri, Director, Technical and Evaluation (DTE), Mr. Albert Osiagwu, Director, Procurement, Planning and Research (DPPR), Barr. Philip Tom-Biggar, Head, Compliance and Investigation and Mr. Abel Agbuke, Director, Finance and Accounts (DFA).
The DG’s management team took the opportunity provided by the visit to present lectures, including an “Overview of State Procurement Law, 2020” by Engr. Obas Okekeri, while Mr. Albert Osiagwu presented a “Checklist for Issuance of Certificate of No Objection (CNO)”, Barr. Philip Tom-Biggar, presented an “Overview of Procurement Offences and Penalties in the Procurement Law, 2020”.
Questions raised included ‘what is CNO and how is it issued by DSPPC?, what is Annual Procurement Plan and how does it operate?, what is the place of Newspaper advertisement in bidding and award of contracts?’.
Responding, Otirhue assured of cooperation with DSPPC in implementing the Procurement Law in the local government councils, as well as the creation of Procurement Units in the councils.
He noted the problem of personnel shortage in the Procurement Cadre, but said it will explore the possibility of recruitment or more transfers and deployment to the cadre, while emphasizing on the need for regular training and collaboration between both commissions.
He also assured that resource persons for their training programmes will be sought from among staff of DSPPC whenever the need arises.
