Our administration will ensure zero tolerance for corruption -Bago
Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has said that his administration will ensure zero tolerance for any forms of corruption and sharp practices within the local government administration.
He said this while declaring open a 3-day Workshop organised for the 25 local government procurement and store officers by the Niger state Local Government Service Comission on Tuesday in Minna.
The workshop was tagged “Efficient Procurement, Optimal Planning and Effective Store Management: Enhancing Service Delivery through Capacity Building for Local Government Procurement, Planning and Store Officers.
Bago, represented by the Deputy Governor, Mr Yakubu Garba, called on the 25 local government chairmen to ensure that all the procurement officers operates within the extent laws of the local government administration.
“They must dhere strictly to procurement laws and ensure due process is followed in all procurement processes, because we will ensure zero tolerance for corruption or any form of sharp practices.
“It will not longer be business as usual, we will not continue to do things as they were before, we must do things in accordance with the law,” he said.
The governor directed the permanent secretary to organised a training for local government chairmen and legislative heads of all councils to learn laws of procurement in local governments.
Earlier in his welcome address, Mr Nuhu Ngaski, Permanent Secretary of Local Government Service Comission, said the workshop was to enhance knowledge and skills on procurement planning and store management of the officers.
Also, Alhaji Mohammed Dabban, Chairman of the Commission, explained that the newly created procurement units and the appointment of procurement officers to handle the affairs of the units.
He added that the efforts was to ensure that transparency and accountability were strictly adhered to procurement laws as well as ensure due process was applied in all procurement processes in the local governments.
In their separate goodwill messages, Alhaji Suleiman Ibrahim, Chairman of the state AlGON, urged participants to ask questions and pay the effective attention to help them improve their performance of duties as store managers of local governments.
Similarly, Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu, Permanent Secretary of the state Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, advised chairmen to carry their procurement officers along in procurement processes for transparency and accountability.
