Tinubu canvasses due process in polls, employment, others
By Babatola Adeyemi
TO maximise the benefits of the due process mechanism, Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, yesterday canvassed its extension to other areas, including electoral, employment and promotion processes.
He said: "Corruption has engendered lack of confidence in government and lack of public interest in what government is doing.
"We must apply due process in all that we do, including our promotion processes as well as reform in power, oil and gas sectors."
Tinubu spoke at a stakeholders' conference on public sector reforms hosted by the Lagos State Government.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Femi Pedro, said due process is essential even in the life of individuals.
According to him, a necessary focus on due process through a procurement policy law is the first step towards societal reformation.
Tinubu blamed the current misfortune of the Nigerian Airways, Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Nigeria National Shipping Line, among others, on the neglect of due process for decades.
"We are talking about discipline, ethics and accountability, we should not limit due process to contracts alone," the governor said.
He assured of the state government's preparedness to ensure the success of the ongoing nationwide efforts at ensuring transparency in procurements.
At the event, the Special Assistant to the President on Budget and Due Process, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, listed government's plans at ensuring transparency in all procurements through the due process mechanism.
She said that a public procurement journal that would contain all available contracts, those that have already been awarded and to whom would be published and made available to the public nationwide by September.
Also, Ezekwesili said the Presidency was developing a process for the new initiative to ensure on-line capacity such that its processes could be made transparent.
Her words: "Microsoft has developed a software for us to develop on-line capacity. And when we are on-line, our processes will be seen.
"Knowledge is power. So we want to make knowledge of public pronouncement known to the people. This we will achieve by liberalising public procurement and deregulating information on it".
Ezekwesili said that the nation had been able to save over N102 billion in its treasury as a result of prudent management of public fund.
According to her, the figure was based on recent calculations done by the Budget and Due Process Unit in the Presidency.
"But for contracts below N50 million, it is another kettle of tea entirely, as considerable amount has been saved," she added.
Participants took a holistic appraisal of the ongoing efforts at public procurement reforms and submitted that it was not only a necessary complement to the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) but was in fact fundamental to its success.
They stressed that the various virtues that would guarantee due process in public procurement were the same that would not only guarantee NEEDS' success but ensure national rebirth.
In a presentation at the forum, Mr. Bayo Adeola, an engineer who spoke on "Public Procurement, the World Trade Organisation and International Politics", stressed that procurement should be viewed beyond buying and selling.
His words: "Public procurement reform must be such that would develop local capacity. It must also be a strategy for empowering the people and creating wealth. If not, the goals of NEEDS, such as poverty alleviation and job creation, may never be realised."
In his own presentation on "Role of Civil Society in the Procurement Process", Dr. Eze Onyekpere listed some factors which he said were critical to the desired public procurement reforms.
These, he said, included transparency of the procurement process such that favouritism would be eschewed.
He added that there should be popular participation in public procurement, such that the communities would be aware of projects in their areas.
Another speaker, Mr. Soji Apampa, in his paper titled "Public Procurement: Private Sector's Perspectives of a Flawed Process" listed technical competence, proven track record, predictability of payment, ethnical practices and accountability as issues of major concern in public procurement reform.
