Sanwo-Olu urges deepened capacity for transparent procurement in Nigeria

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has charged professionals and stakeholders in the country to promote and deepen capacity for good, robust procurement system in the country.

Governor Sanwo-Olu gave the charge during a courtesy visit by the Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Mr. Ben Farrell, and the Regional Director for Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific, Mr Sam Achampong, at Lagos House, Marina.

The governor, while making the call, noted that the state government had been a strong advocate and a convert of a well-coordinated and transparent procurement process for many years.

This was exactly as he had noted, that Lagos State has gathered numerous experiences in the procurement process that can be shared with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, as well as professionals in other parts of the world.

“For us, especially in Lagos State, we have been a strong advocate and a convert of a well-coordinated, transparent procurement process. We pride ourselves that we are one of the first governments and bodies to have institutionalised and started a public procurement process.

“I was privileged to be in government 15 years ago when the conversation started, and we were quick to set up relevant agencies. But over time, one of the things we realised is that we need to also continue to spread out competency. We need to continue to ensure that capacity is deepened and is enriched.

“There is need for us to ensure that we do it rightly. Here in Lagos, we understand fully the value of a very good, robust procurement system. It helps to anticipate. It helps to negotiate better,” Governor Sanwo-Olu states

Speaking earlier, the Global CEO of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), Mr. Farrell, expressed the willingness of the Institute to provide capacity building to drive competence for the benefit and prosperity of Nigeria.

“We have members in 180 countries, and we share competency, best practice, and build capacity around nations. We are here to support you for the prosperity of Nigeria, to build on the great work of the team in recent years.

“We came to say that we are going to establish a permanent presence here to work with the Nigerian public and private sector to provide capacity building to drive competence for the benefit and the prosperity of Nigeria. We feel that spreading the knowledge and the competency will really benefit this nation,” he said.

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