The Rivers State Bureau on Public Procurement (RSBOPP), says efforts are being made to strengthen the existing procurement processes leading to the award of contracts and jobs execution in the state to enhance service delivery.

The Board chairman of the RSBOPP, Lawrence Oko-Jaja, disclosed this while speaking to journalists in his office in Port Harcourt, after a meeting with staff of the agency, last Friday.

Oko-Jaja who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) stated that procurement had become a global issue, stressing that without a proper procurement plan, it would be difficult for any state or nation to move forward in the attainment of its developmental strategies and goals.

The chairman said that the Board had observed some improprieties in the procurement processes and assured that they would take every measure to ensure full compliance with the state procurement laws.

“We will ensure that the laws are followed and we have value for money. We must ensure that money is used for contract execution and not to enrich people’s pockets. We’ll ensure that the money being quoted for any job or contract corresponds with the prevailing market price. We are going to strengthen the monitoring and evaluating team of the Board to perform their duties; going to markets, verify the prices quoted for and also ensure compliance.

“We are going to look into the procurement laws to see how we can close the existing gaps noticed that are not in line with global practices. These measures will also affect local government councils in the state to ensure there is value for money and save money for the state government. And in doing so, the government can spread its services across the state and not in one place.

“His Excellency, the governor of the state has a mantra, “Rivers first”. We are going to ensure we assist him and the state government achieve this policy by ensuring that the procurement laws are complied with and things are done rightly. That is why we are here,” he said.

Oko-Jaja assured that members of the Board would justify the confidence reposed in them by the state governor for the benefit of the state.

Earlier, in an interactive meeting between Board members and staff of the agency, the Board chairman of RSBOPP told the excited workforce that the Board had approved the merger of some departments, namely Legal, Ethics Human Resources and the Facility Management departments to ensure maximum output and efficiency in service delivery.

He said that the Legal and Ethics departments had been merged as one department, adding the Human Resources and Facility Management departments had also been merged.

He told them that going forward every department would also be accountable for its responsibility and announced that the Board had also approved that conditions of service should be put in place for the staff of the agency so that they would grow like their counterparts in the state mainstream civil service.

Akujobi Amadi