By Gbenga Ojikutu
The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) has organised a workshop for stakeholders in Ekiti State towards ensuring transparency, accountability, and inclusion in public procurement processes.
The event organised by PPDC with support from the MacArthur Foundation, tagged ‘Sub-National Public Procurement Boot Camp, was attended by relevant stakeholders in the state, including civil social organisations (CSOs), the media, officials of the state Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in the state, and the Ministry of Justice, among others.
The senior programme officer of PPDC, Ife Olatunji David, said the workshop was necessary to educate stakeholders on how to hold the government accountable and achieve effective usage of public funds in the overall interest of the citizens.
According to her: “We are implementing this programme in Ekiti, Adamawa, and Kaduna states, basically to gather all the relevant stakeholders—government, CSO, media, and people with disabilities—to ensure transparency, accountability, and inclusion in ensuring public procurement processes are followed, inclusive, and accountable.
“We are ensuring to educate citizens on their rights, educate them on public procurement processes, and also to ensure collaboration among all the stakeholders.
“These laws are there; if you write a letter to the government, they will respond, but the issue is that a lot of citizens don’t know their rights; if you tell them (the citizens), they will say that the government will not answer, but the truth is that if you write a letter to the government, the law makes provision that they are meant to respond within seven days.
“We want to educate the citizens on that right to write the letter and also educate them on proper channels to follow because even if you have the right and you don’t use it in a proper way, the government will have openings to say they are not going to respond. We are educating them on all processes to follow to engage the government, and we are sure the Ekiti state government will respond when citizens do everything properly.”
A senior communication officer of the PPDC, Nnenna Eze, added that the programme was to empower citizens “by ensuring people get value for money and better service delivery.
“The benefit of the programme is that when the CSOs and the media have been informed and educated, they know their rights, what they are supposed to do, and how they are supposed to hold the government accountable,” she said.
The resource persons, Barr. Oluwatayo Fabusuyi from the State Ministry of Justice and Bolanle Oladele from the BPP said the law was put together to ensure transparency and to ensure that projects and contracts are done with justification and value for money
