The Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Enhancement Center of Excellence (SPESSECE) has advocated the adoption of e-procurement processes by government at all levels to curb corrupt practices.

The SPESSECE coordinator for the FCT, Katsina, Jigawa, and Sokoto states, Lawal Salisu, said gave the suggestion on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mr Salisu, who spoke on the sidelines of a training programme organised for procurement officers, drawn from ministries, departments and agencies, said SEPESSECE was a World Bank-sponsored project.

He said the project was a deliberate attempt by the federal government and the World Bank to improve the capacity of federal, state and local government personnel in terms of procurement.

The coordinator said it was also to improve social and environmental standards with a view to ensuring a sustainable procurement process in Nigeria.

He added that the training was a deliberate attempt to educate participants on e-procurement and environmental procurement.

According to him, the conventional way of doing things is more like a manual that requires physical meeting and with this, it is difficult to curb corruption.

He said, “The more you allow people to meet physically, the more likely you are to have some elements of influence. If we change the environmental processes to ensure that there is no physical meeting from the advertisement, handling, analysis and award, corruption will be eliminated.’’

The SPESSECE coordinator also said that lack of professionals was a major challenge facing the procurement process in Nigeria, adding that, aside from the federal government, procurement cadres did not exist in most of the states in Nigeria.

He stated, “This is something that has to do with public resources. We require people with academic knowledge and professional certifications. People who understand that they will be sanctioned if they mislead the executive on anything that has to do with public procurement.’’

(NAN)