The Acting Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, has charged Permanent Secretaries to be proactive and employ necessary mechanism towards ensuring strict and seamless implementation of the budget of their respective Ministries.
She gave this charge in her remarks at the occasion of the 2020 Procurement Retreat organised for newly appointed Permanent Secretaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Kano, Kano State.
Yemi-Esan urged Permanent Secretaries to be fully abreast and involved in procurement processes of Agencies under their Ministries.
She added that the introduction of the 12-month fiscal calendar budget, besides encouraging the tracking of Budget implementation, will also enable the private sector and the country’s development partners to easily align their planned programmes and budget with the Country’s new budget circle among other benefits.
According to her, the 2020 retreat with the theme “Procurement Implementation in the New Budget Cycle’ will enhance better interpretation of our roles as they pertain to proper budgetary and accounting systems for approved internal control, accountability and transparency.”
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She also reiterated the commitment of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation continued collaboration with the Bureau of Public Procurement to sustain and as well as support any laudable initiative that will enhance professionalism and competence of our personnel in Public Procurement.
In his welcome address the Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Mamman Ahmadu, said the event was one of the most important activities of the Bureau because the calibre of officers in attendance constitute the top echelon of the Nation bureaucracy, which is involved in the implementation of the public procurement reform.
He added that Federal Permanent Secretaries are recognised as Accounting Officers in the Ministries under Section 20, Sub- Section 1 of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
This places them at the heart of the procurement process, as they take responsibility for ensuring the compliance of MDAs with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
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