Director-General of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Mr. Fatai Onafowote, has disclosed that 107 Ministries, Departments and Agencies have so far been placed on the state government’s e-procurement platform.
He added that the integration of the remaining 61 MDAs and 57 Local Governments/Local Council Development Areas of the state on the platform this year had also been approved by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Oladapo Olatunde, in a statement on Monday, quoted Onafowote as speaking at the agency’s 2022 Annual General Meeting/Stakeholders’ Forum which was held at the Central Business District, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
The statement read, “Mr. Onafowote also explained that the deployment of e-procurement modules to the procurement process of the state was in alignment with the policy of the state government to continue to deploy technology as the chief driver for conducting government’s business, stressing that this would enhance transparency, openness, accountability and the integrity of the public procurement process in the state.
“While stressing the need for training and retraining, the Director-General stated that the agency recently organised a training programme on Open Contracting Data Standard and Google Sheets to enhance the knowledge of Procurement Officers in uploading procurement data online in the OCDS format.
“He, therefore, enjoined service providers to also improve their computer skills so that they could continue to transact business with the state government, warning that the era of paper documentation in public procurement was gradually coming to an end.”
The state’s Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, said the agency has “further raised the bar of excellence in the public procurement system of the state, thereby enhancing compliance to the Public Procurement Law among service providers and other stakeholders.”
He also pointed out that the efforts of the agency had boosted the confidence of service providers and other stakeholders to do business with the state government and discharge their civic duties to the state.
According to the statement, the Head of Service was represented at the occasion by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Hundogan Sewanu.
The statement added, “Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, however, noted that there was the need for the agency to continue to improve its policies and processes, adding that stakeholders must, therefore, use the opportunity offered by the event to give the agency necessary feedback and new insights on the public procurement process to assist the agency to further improve the process.
“Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Governing Board of the agency, Dr. Rabiu Olowo, commended stakeholders for their support to the agency, adding that it was in recognition of the important role being played by stakeholders that the agency had to enact a new Procurement Law last year due to popular demand.
“Dr. Olowo expressed the commitment of the agency to the conscientious implementation of the Procurement Law so that the law could continue to serve the interest of service providers, the state government as well as the general public.
“While noting that just as there are immense opportunities in the state, the chairman pointed out that the challenges are also enormous, adding that as a responsible and responsive government, the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would continue to convert the challenges into opportunities for the benefit of the vast majority of the people of the state.
“He urged stakeholders to continue to give the agency useful suggestions and ideas that could further enhance the ease of doing business and hasten the drive towards the attainment of the 21st Century Economy status being vigorously pursued by the present administration in the state.”