By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Bauchi State Government under the public procurement office, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded activity titled “State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) has commenced training of selected civil servants to be converted to procurement cadre in the Bauchi State Civil Service.
Declaring the workshop open at Hazibal Suite Conference Centre on Monday, Bauchi State Head of Service (HOS), Mr. Yahuza Adamu Haruna commended USAID State 2 State intervention for partnering with Bauchi State Government to midwife crop of pioneer procurement officers to man some of the State MDAs.
The HOS described procurement as one of the key component of public financial management that block leakages, ensures transparency and good governance.
He disclosed that Bauchi State has been among the first four states that domesticated the physical responsibility act since 2000 pointing that, “If the state should have a sound procurement system, it will curtail waste and save resources for other needs”.
Adamu emphasized on the need for the selected participants to pay attention and learn all they could during the training so that in the nearest future, they may become master trainers, thus passing the knowledge acquired to others.
He thanked USAID State 2 State for facilitating the training and their efforts in getting sound resource persons from the Bureau for Public Procurement.
In a goodwill message to the participants, the Director General of Bauchi State Due Process office, Engineer Joshua Titus Sango described the training as an important milestone in the effort of the State Government towards actualizing the procurement cadre that would support the state MDAs in their procurement needs.
He implore the participants to pay attention and ask questions where they don’t understand, stressing that, “your attendance and conversion into the procurement cadre in the state government is a turning point in your life as a public servant”.
Sanga thanked the State Governor, Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir for his keen interest in the creation of the procurement cadre that is inline with the provision of the state procurement law of 2020.
He further said that after the training and certification, 40 of the participants will be converted into the new procurement cadre of the state government.
Earlier in her welcome remark, the state team lead (STL) of the Activity, Mrs. Rabi Ekele said that the major focus of the USAID State 2 State activity is to increase accountability, transparency and effectiveness in governance, with particular emphasis on public procurement, monitoring and evaluation for effective service delivery in three critical areas that include basic education, primary healthcare and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Ekele thanked Bauchi State Government for providing enabling environment for the State 2State Activity to support the state.
The STL also expressed her optimism saying that ,“ I hope that at the end of the support, the state would have an improved system in financial management especially in critical sectors like basic education, primary healthcare, and water , sanitation and hygiene. We also hope to see more citizens involvement in Governance”.
Some of the participants interviewed by our correspondent all expressed their zeal and enthusiasm towards the training and subsequent conversion into the procurement cadre.
