Kogi Procurement Chief extols Gov Bello on transparency »

The Director General, Kogi Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr. Stella Adejo has commended Governor Yahaya Bello for his transparent fiscal policy implementation.

Dr. Stella gave the commendation Wednesday while speaking at a two-day stakeholders engagement on “Open Contracting” in Lokoja the state capital.

She said on assumption of office, her unit as the procurement office of the government had little or no information to work with, as certificates of due process for projects undertaken by past governments were not properly documented as expected.

“With the understanding of Governor Bello that government is a continuum and his willingness to serve the people, when he came on board, he decided that all ongoing contracts he met should be completed by his administration. But unfortunately, information as to what has been procured, the entirety of most documents as related to some projects were untraceable,” she explained.

According to her, Governor Bello who knew the implication of such negligence, coming from the background of accounting, with his desire for transparency, swung into action immediately and strengthened the procurement office being spearheaded by her with proper implementation structure for maximum operation.

Speaking further, she added that the “Open Contracting” as one of the initiatives of her office, which the government had keyed into would further improve government’s public service integrity, stressing that citizens irrespective of location would have access to information with ease on utilisation of resources on projects.

“We have made appreciable progress with the support of the governor. We regulate all the procurement offices across the 21 local government areas within the civil service now, making them to know their limitations. So far, 34 procurement officers have been trained and deployed to the various MDAs.”

Dr. Stella who described ‘Open Contracting’ as a key component in governance, added that the initiative would build trust, as well as compliment the governor’s style of accountability in the utilization of tax payers money and input from the public.

She therefore called on citizens across board to project the state in a positive manner, saying that there were areas the government under the leadership of Governor Bello had made significant impact.

In a goodwill message, the Secretary to the Kogi State Government, Dr. Arike Folashade Ayoade, who was represented by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Kehinde Oloruntoba said the government has not held back its accountability drive since assumption of office.

Hon. Oloruntoba lamented the misinformation people churn about Kogi, attributing it to lack of proper information at the disposal of misinformed individuals and their refusal to make findings.

The Commissioner who made reference to how most people doubted the Ejiba Confluence Rice Mill which is now a reality and one of the biggest achievements of the government in its agro business revolution, commended Dr. Stella for the initiative.

“Governor Yahaya Bello as a leader believes in due process, he believes that the state’s resources should work for the betterment of the generality of its citizens and he has continued to trail the part of accountability and transparency,” he added.

One of the critical stakeholders who participated in the panel discussion, the Director General, Lands and Housing Services, Hajiya Maryam Ladi Ibrahim said that the government had always emphasised the need for efficiency and transparency in all transactions.

She expressed optimism that the initiative aimed at publishing and making vital information available to the public would encourage participation/collaboration and in return fix problems where necessary.

The programme featured a paper presentation on ‘Introduction to Open Contracting and Benefits’ by Mr Adekunle Adelowo, explaining how the effort prevents fraud and helps in the delivery of value for money.

The Program Director of a collaborating agencies, Public and Private Development Centre, Ifeoma Onyebuchi explained to participants some of the procedures, success stories and the need for participation.