Bureau of Public Procurement unveils scheme to combat procurement fraud
The Bureau of Public Procurement has introduced a Beneficiary Ownership Scheme to detect and eliminate fraudulent activities within the procurement process.
The Director-General of BPP, Adebowale Adedokun, announced this on Monday during a world press conference themed “Renewed Hope Through Strategic Procurement.”
Adedokun emphasised that the scheme would enable the agency to identify civil servants or public officials involved in illegal practices.
“Our own duty, as the Bureau of Public Procurement, is that there is what is called a beneficiary ownership scheme. That will enable us to detect staff or public or civil servants who by virtue or in any form engage in these practices,” he stated.
The BPP is leveraging partnerships with institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, and the Code of Conduct Bureau to ensure accountability.
“Together, you know where my work stops? It’s where the work of EFCC, ICPC, CCB begins. They have a lot of institutional and legal capacity. All I need to do is to share documents with them,” Adedokun explained.
He said that for the first time in its history, the BPP is sharing reports on public servants involved in procurement fraud with the CCB.
“Under my watch, CCB will be receiving reports, and so it’s their responsibility, not mine, to ask questions about public servants, civil servants, who are directly involved in any procurement process,” he added.
Speaking on the BPP’s collaboration with the EFCC, the Commission’s Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede, reiterated the EFCC’s commitment to tackling procurement fraud.
Represented by a Director at EFCC, Olukoyede stated, “Contract and procurement fraud represents a significant percentage of the fraud around, especially in the public sector. As an agency, the EFCC recently introduced a new Department of Fraud Assessment and Control to prevent procurement fraud before it happens. We want to assure the BPP that we will work closely with them to reduce such fraud to the bare minimum.”
The Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Ogbonnaya Orji, praised the leadership of Adedokun, citing his deep institutional knowledge of BPP as a strength.
“Dr. Adedokun represents one of the institutional memories of this organisation and therefore, I expect that he will do very well. Ninety per cent of the corruption we see in the public sector originates from public procurement, in one way or another,” Orji said.
He emphasised the importance of collaboration between agencies to address these issues.
Adedokun noted that the BPP is also addressing issues of inflated project costs through its Price Intelligence Unit, which monitors real-time prices across geopolitical zones.
He stressed that open competition in procurement processes is essential to reduce costs.
“We can only deal with the high cost of the project if we go open competition. There’s no two ways about it,” he remarked.
On growing local contractors, Adedokun reassured them of the government’s support while urging them to maintain ethical practices.
“We also want to ask the local contractors to up their game. Standardization, good ethical practices and building the capacity of their employees matter. So, we look forward to working with them,” he said, adding, “Local contractors, this is your season. Take advantage of that.”
The Director-General also highlighted recent successes, including saving $115,000 in a single power project transaction through negotiation.
“Through concerted negotiation, we were able to save $115,000 for one transaction. That’s a signal to you that we begin to publish to Nigerians,” he stated.
The BPP’s reforms aim to enhance transparency, efficiency, and ethical standards in public procurement, marking a significant step in combating corruption in Nigeria.
