Budget: FG plans to save N48.44bn from e-procurement implementation

The federal government will save N48.44 billion from the N1.47 trillion budgeted for non-payroll expenditures of six ministries this year if electronic procurement is implemented. This was disclosed by the acting Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Ahmed Abdu, at a workshop organized for procurement officers from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) […]

The federal government will save N48.44 billion from the N1.47 trillion budgeted for non-payroll expenditures of six ministries this year if electronic procurement is implemented.
This was disclosed by the acting Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Ahmed Abdu, at a workshop organized for procurement officers from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Abuja.
Abdu said the e-procurement to be implemented in six pilot ministries will save approximately five per cent of the recurrent expenditure and three per cent of the capital expenditure of the ministries.
The pilot ministries for the implementation include those of health, education, agriculture, transport and water resources.
“In effect, e-procurement will enable the federal government achieve efficiency and reduce wastage in its transactions. The technology will help our procurement system to reduce human interface in a manner that MDAs can submit their requests to the Bureau for due process ‘No Objection’ in electronic form and the Bureau, similarly, will issue due process ‘No Objection’ to MDAs in electronic form,” Abdu said.
The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, told participants at the workshop that the sum of N194.78 million had been committed to the full deployment of the e-procurement system in the pilot ministries.
“If the country is to achieve transparency and efficiency, e-procurement is an inevitable option,” the minister, who was represented at the workshop, said.
The Chairman, House Committee on Procurement, Oluwole Oke, said one of the basic tools that the president needs to humble corruption in the country is the procurement act.
“We have been hearing that some people are mulling the idea of emergency powers so as to fast-track procurement processes in Nigeria. All the president needs to resuscitate the economy and to humble corruption in the public sector is to deploy the procurement laws,” he said.
He said e-procurement would address most of the issues of delays and inflation of procurement costs that impede the manual process.