‘Why professionals should be engaged in Nigeria’s procurement activities’

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria (CIPSMN) has called on the President-elect, of the federal republic of Nigeria, General Muhammed Buhari to engage the services of professionals in the nation’s procurement activities.

The President of the institute, Diekola Oyewo, said the institute which boasts of seasoned professionals across various sectors should not be treated with levity and neglected ‎ when carrying out procurement activities in a country.

Oyewo during its 2015 Group A induction ceremony of new members into the institute, stressed that Buhari in his manifesto, highlighted procurement as key to economic growth, due to the fact that about 80 to 90 per cent of the nation’s budget centres around procurement.

In ‎his words, “Any government that does not give procurement activities the necessary attention it desires is not a serious government. I believe strongly that procurement is a candidate for serious concentration and a professional body that engages about 70 per cent of the nation’s budget should be taken seriously.”

“Buhari when he was Nigeria’s head of state, knows the level of damage corruption has cost the nation and I also believe he is capable of bringing sanity to the system,” he added.
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According to him, the country is blessed with well trained local and international professionals who deserve to be put in rightful positions in the nation’s procurement activities, noting that until this is done, the country ‎will continue to thread in darkness.

“Procurement should be done by professionals, not quacks. We are trained for procurement and until they recognise the need for professionals to carry out procurement activities ‎for this great country, we will not achieve the desired growth we want,” he said.

The president further blamed politics for the unprofessional acts in the country, saying that quacks end up occupying positions they have little or no knowledge about.

He however charged the new inductees to take issues of professionalism and ethics seriously, adding that the two qualities are Siamese twins.

“Any attempt ‎to separate them is sure to bring disrepute, not only to the offenders but also to the employers, the nation at large and the offender’s nucleus family,” he said.

He added that as professionals, the inductees will be entrusted with huge sum of money for making purchases and as a consequence, pressure will be mounted on them to exercise partiality with regards to purchases.

“You have the responsibility of spending your organisation’s money only after taking careful decisions, based on the best judgement. Ethical conduct requires that judgement exercised by you should be fair, impartial and prudent, unbiased and in the best interest of the organisation to which you belong,” he stressed.

He highlighted two conditions favouring corruption, saying greed and low ethical standards in the nation breeds corruption, advising that the inductees must be loyal to their employees, be just to those they deal with and be faithful to the profession.

Also speaking at the event, the Registrar of the institute, Alhaji Aliyu Muhammed, said one of the recurring issues facing procurement development in the country is the inexplicable ‎neglect that has been the lot of procurement role recognition in the nation.

He said the situation is apparently the collective consequence of the incredible lack of political instability prowess and the general ineptitude for professional intellectual pursuit that underscores the nation’s level of procurement underdevelopment.

“Low priority is accorded to procurement management activities and this has been the main reason for our low level of social caring, technological, environmental and political development,” he added.