She stated this during a two-day quarterly stakeholder public procurement dialogue, tagged "Public Procurement in Ebonyi State: Efforts, Processes, Issues, and Challenges," in Abakaliki, adding that the procurement processes in the state ran independently of government meddling in order to ensure accountability, transparency, and effectiveness of contract processes as stipulated by the council.
The dialogue, which was organised by USAID State2State, was aimed at curbing fraud and corruption in the public procurement process. Betty-Iffy said, "The key challenge facing my office is the issue of the network, which sometimes hinders bidders and the general public from being on the same page with the Bureau during the bid opening."
We don’t really have many challenges, but the only one, as I mentioned earlier, is a network problem. You know we are conducting procurement using electronic communication. At times, during the bid opening, we have network challenges. We always set the time so that everyone can participate. Concerning this procurement process, you don’t even need to know anybody. Governor Umahi does not have anything to do with the procurement jobs, because if you tamper with anything or anyone in the program, the whole world will see it. That is why procurement is superior to traditional asset procurement."
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the dialogue, the chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Ebonyi State, and the assistant zonal chairman of the Institute, Mrs. Chima Okikechi, called on the bureau to embark on aggressive public sensitization of its activities and to assiduously keep the public abreast of its activities. They should embark on aggressive sensitization, not only by going to the radio but also by going to churches, markets, and anywhere else people can be found.
"And according to the Executive Secretary, they have basically five challenges that border on network, utility vehicles, cadre building in the public service, and the contractors not being able to use the e-platform, among others," she said.
