NEITI to Adopt Open Contracting System

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has indicated it would set up an Open Contracting Data Standard platform for procurement of goods and services, thus making it the first federal government agency to adopt the platform, which encourages accountability and openness in government procurement processes.

NEITI said the platform would enable it provide to the Nigerian public, comprehensive information and disclosure on all procurement opportunities and contracting information it would undertake. It said its decision on this was consistent with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to agreements reached at the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit held in London, the United Kingdom.

Buhari had declared at the summit the government’s commitment to full implementation of the principles of the Open Contracting Data Standard, focusing on major projects in health, road, infrastructure and education sectors as early priorities.

A statement from the NEITI recently in Abuja stated that the agency signed a pact with the Public Private Development Centre (PPDC), a nongovernmental organisation, on the implementation of the Open Contracting Data Standard. It said the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the policy implementation for NEITI while the Chief Executive Officer of PPDC, Seember Nyager, signed for PPDC. Adio, according to the statement, which was signed by NEITI’s Director of Communications, Orji Ogbonnanya Orji, said he was delighted that NEITI had become the first federal government agency to fully embrace the Open Contracting Data Standard in line with the Public Procurement Act and bidding regulations of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

It also said that Nyager welcomed the partnership between NEITI and PPDC in promoting an open, accountable, competitive procurement process to ensure efficiency and value for money in the procurement of goods, works and services. According to the statement, the online platform would be hosted as a portal on the NEITI website and would include a feedback component aimed at promoting transparency, accountability and value for money in public transactions done by NEITI.