Stakeholders Score Osun High On Public Procurement Policy

By Solomon Odeniyi

Stakeholders have scored the government of the State of Osun high in the implementation of the State Public Procurement Law.

They spoke at a sensitisation workshop on Public Procurement Reform and Understanding of the provision of the State of Osun Public Procurement Law in Osogbo on Tuesday.

In their separate remarks, the state Commissioner for Finance, Mr Bola Oyebamiji and the General Manager, Osun Public Procurement Agency, Mr  Ayodele Fatoberu said the insistence on due process has guaranteed value for money  in the procurement process in the state.

Oyebamiji noted that with a keen determination to overturn the doldrums that have perverse and constrained the state from joining some other developed states, the administration has initiated reform programmes that were internationally accepted as bedrock for promoting best practice in public finance management.

He said: “Of note, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola administration revised the outdated Tax Administration Law, by passing a new one in 2012 along side Osun Fiscal Responsibility Law, and Bond Administration Law among others.

“With the vision of transforming and repositioning Osun as industrial and commercial hub, the government prioritised infrastructural development in all the nooks and crannies of the state.

“Recognising the pivotal roles of institutionalising sound public procurement system, particularly in promoting probity, and effective use of public resources, the Aregbesola administration set the machinery in motion to develop Public Procurement Bill, and passed in February 2015 and automatically become legal instrument for conducting public procurement in Osun”, he noted.

According to Oyebamiji, with the operation of the law, the state government has also developed ‘Standard Bidding Document for Works, Goods and Consultancy Services’.

Speaking earlier, Fatoberu who described public procurement as the basis of transparency, accountability and value for money commended the state government for allowing the state Public Procurement Law to work well.

He said that the law is now being institutionalised in all the local government council areas of the state, saying the essence of the gathering  is to sensitise the stakeholders on how the law works and the sanctions attached to it under the law.