BPP chief bags engineering academy fellowship

THE Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Engr. Emeka M. Ezeh, has been inducted a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering. Ezeh a former President of the Nigerian Society of Engineering (NSE) is a recipient of the national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic, (OFR).

He is a recipient of many other awards and fellowships, including Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, in 2011; Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Entrepreneurship Studies; Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Credit Administration; Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria; and Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Civil Engineers; among others.

He obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in civil engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he was best graduating student in Structural Analysis, Structural Design and Foundation Engineering, in 1983.

He also has a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Lagos, Akoka, as well as a diploma in Public Administration.

He is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy Business School. After a successful career in private engineering practice, he joined the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), the precursor of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

He headed the Bureau in an acting capacity with the coming into effect of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, until he was confirmed on the position in 2009 and reappointed for a second term 2013.

Ezeh has been one of the leading lights of public service in Nigeria since the inception of the current democratic dispensation, spanning four administrations. BPP, under his watch, was adjudged by the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG), a consortium of several civil society organizations, as the second most outstanding institution in the Presidency in 2013/2014.

Among BPP’s most important accomplishments is the use of its prior reviews of contracts awarded by government agencies, which have resulted in huge financial savings to the Government since 2009. The sanitization of the public procurement system, through enthronement of transparency and accountability, has significantly contributed to the reduction of the cost of doing business in Nigeria and restored investors’ confidence in the economy.