The Executive Director of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), Bodger Scott Johnson, at the head of a six-member delegation, is in Nigeria, as part of efforts to obtain first-hand knowledge and share experiences on the supply, installation, configuration, deployment, and maintenance of an Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system on Software as a Service (SAAS) Model.
The delegation will interact and share experiences with the authorities and staff of Lagos State Public Procurement Agency and Edo State Public Procurement Agency. The two states are currently implementing the e-GP System.
The knowledge-sharing visit runs from February 16-23, 2024, and has formally commenced with the conduct of indoor engagement sessions with authorities and staff of Lagos State Public Procurement Agency.
The Executive Director of the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission (PPCC), Bodger Scott Johnson, and his Nigerian counterpart, Onafowote Fata Idowu, made separate remarks at the start of the engagement sessions.
Accordingly, the PPCC Boss, Bodger Scott Johnson, called for more collaborations and consultations as Liberia embarks on the public procurement modernization effort. He vowed to remain engaged with the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency to ensure realization of the public procurement modernization efforts in Liberia.
Also, the Director General of Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Onafowote Fata Idowu, recounted experiences with the public procurement digitization efforts at the state level in Nigeria. He narrated that public procurement in Lagos has been digitized and that the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency is forging ahead with the implementation of the digitized system, evidenced by the enrolment of 140 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
The Director General mentioned that compliance to the public procurement laws of Lagos State has increased and that vendors and other stakeholders are finding it very convenient to use the system. These gains, he further mentioned, have positively impacted development and strengthened the fight against waste and abuse of state resources.
Discussions and presentations during engagement sessions were particularly focussed on the overview of the Lagos PPA and its operations, lessons learnt from implementing e-GP in Lagos State, to include e-GP SAAS Pilot MDAs, Open Contracting Data Standards (OCDS)/Contract Awards Publication.
The delegation will also visit Edo State and interact with the authorities and staff of Edo State Public Procurement Agency. Similar discussions and knowledge-sharing experiences are expected to be carried out during the visit. These efforts are geared towards understanding the success stories and challenges experienced by the two Nigerian States on the development, implementation, and maintenance of the e-GP system, and strengthen the capacity of the PPCC delegation and general staff to understand the governance arrangements required in implementing an e-GP system, as well as acquaint the team with the relevant knowledge on e-GP project management and implementation, and the strategies employed by the two states to enhance third party system integration, data cleansing, and migration.
