by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
Over 100 to Certificates of No Objections for contractors executing contracts across Plateau State have been issued by the Bureau of Public Procurement in the last one year of the present administration.
This was disclosed by the Acting Director-General of the Plateau State Bureau of Public Procurement Agency (PSBPP), Yabilsu Dogo, when members of Community Frontline Advocates on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) implemented by Accountability Lab Nigeria in Plateau State paid him a visit in his office in Jos recently.
According to Dogo, the Agency has recorded above 21 million naira as revenue generated through registration of contractors, who are ready to do business with the state.
He noted that, “Lack of mobility has affected the procurement agency from effective monitoring of awarded contracts in the State – which is responsible for the issuance of Certificate of No Objections to contractors – is central in the monitoring of contracts being executed to meet specifications and quality is in dear need of attention for optimal results.”
He noted that since his assumption in office where the office is situated, the environment and the office is not conducive for workers, especially government workers.
“The agency lacks the facilities, especially official vehicle, a bus for monitoring work at site, and this has affected the quality of work that the contractors carried out across the state,” the Acting D-G stated.
He appealed to the Government of Gov Mutfwang to help the Agency in getting a new and conducive office to enable the workers carry out their work effectively, saying, “because the building used right now is about to collapse; it has cracks all over.”
He said, the governor has approved an official vehicle, which will soon be delivered to them, and also some monies were released to them for the running of the office, and that’s why they were able to fix two things in the office that were hitherto not functioning.
The Acting D-G further appealed to the government that the agency needs a bus for routine monitoring, adding that, “Without a bus, we cannot function as expected of the Bureau.”
Speaking earlier, the team of the Community Frontline Advocates, led by Mr Derek Nanman Gono, stated that, the team was at the Agency on a familiarization visit in order to strengthen the quest for open contracting towards accountability and good governance to citizens of Plateau State.
According to him, the team will be embarking on projects monitoring, and urged the agency to upload more projects so far completed on the Open Contracting Portal, for easy tracking.
He explained that, the team is focusing on two key areas for the monitoring project: covering the health sector and the educational sector across the state, respectively.