By Olanrewaju Adesanya
SUNRISE NEWS, Lagos, Aug. 10, 2020 – Lagos State House Committee on Public Procurement on Friday has established that the State Public Procurement Agency is a change agent in that, its establishment is to change the narrative and bring about reasonable compliance and alignment to budgetary provisions in all the three tiers of government in the State especially Ministries, Department and Agencies of government.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Rauf Olawale Age-Sulaimon while asking the Agency’s arrow head, the General Manager, Mr. Onafowote Fatai Idowu to brief the committee on their SWOT analysis, to include the journey so far and challenges.
Hon. Solaja Saka-Nurudeen, House Committee Chairman on Public Account-State, said “by now, you must have professionalise your staff; the core professionals must be there.”
He also suggested that the Monitor of all MDAs must be robust with full details anchoring training and retraining of staff as this is paramount for maximum performance of the Agency.
In the submission of Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, the House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, he said the Agency should establish how staff can take professional examinations yearly so they can be more professional in discharging their duties as expected of professionals.
He referred to the Agency as the “Gate-Keeper” between the House of Assembly and others as regards budgets implementation.
In his response, the General Manager, Mr. Onafowote Fatai Idowu applauded the House for inviting them to an inaugural meeting which invariably gave the Agency the opportunity to gain from the Honourable Members wealth of experiences.
He however, promised to look inwards and make the Agency achievement robust.
In his concluding remarks, the Committee Chairman, Hon. Rauf Olawale Age-Sulaiman stressed that the Agency should do everything possible within the ambit of the Law to ensure that at any point or circumstance, every Procurement entity applies the principles of sound Procurement, economy, efficiency, transparency and accountability in their procedures. This according to him can only be achieved through what he called “two way communications “.