Works Ministry, BPP Meet To Reduce Bottlenecks On Road Contracts

To reduce bottlenecks in road contracts, the Ministry of Works and Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on Tuesday met in Abuja. The meeting was held on the demand of the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi.

As part of efforts to end delays in the implementation of the Renewed Hope agenda on the road sector development, the Minister of Works, Sen. Nweze Umahi has had a partnership discussion with the management of the Bureau of Public Procurement. (BPP) on the need for a new paradigm of seamless bureaucracies in public procurement processes for efficient and timely project delivery.

In a statement released by the Special Adviser ( Media) to the Minister, Orji Uchenna Orji, he said, “In a meeting held at the Federal Ministry of Works, Mabushi-Abuja on 10th December 2024, the Minister stated that for the works sector to achieve greater prospects in innovation, efficiency, and economy in the road infrastructure revolution agenda of the present administration and to best respond to the citizens’ yearning for road sector intervention, there must be a deliberate effort to remove all bureaucratic constraints to project evaluation by the Bureau of Public Procurement.

He noted the core mandates of the Bureau, which among others are to foster accountability, consistency in pricing, effectiveness in contract execution, and value for money, and urged them to see delay as one of the greatest inhibitors of the objectives of the establishment of the Bureau.”

Orji, however, quoted the Minister as saying, “We seek closer cooperation and collaboration to enable the Ministry to fast-track delivery of the road infrastructure projects inherited and those initiated by the Renewed Hope administration.

“When we came on board, we insisted on best practices, and we introduced innovations to ensure we give Nigerians enduring road infrastructure that is fit for purpose. We therefore need a collaborative resolve to end unnecessary delays in the procurement processes.”

The Minister pointed out that different procurement methods, including restrictive, selective, and competitive bidding measures, are geared towards achieving value for money and effective service delivery to Nigerians.

Orji also said, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun commended the Minister for the purposeful initiatives of the Federal Ministry of Works under his watch and assured him of enhanced synergies with the Ministry so that the noble objectives of the Renewed Hope administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the works sector would be achieved.

He said, “The interesting thing about you is that you don’t fail in your duty, which I have observed. You start, you end with something that is unique about you, and you’re passionate about what you want to do. We are glad when you extended the invitation for us to come here. We know you see BPP as a worthy partner towards ensuring that Mr President’s objectives in respect of road infrastructure are achieved timely, transparently, and well-accounted.”

He thanked the Minister for the initiative to hold the meeting to discuss areas of procurement challenges. He said, “We are here to hear your challenges, and for us to also hear our own challenges and reach an understanding of how to make sure we work together to achieve the same goal for logical completion. From my experience in this job over the years, work is an arm of government that Nigerians see every day. They talk about it every day.

“If there is the agency or Parastatal or Ministry that if things fail, then all Nigerians will shout against Mr President, it is the Ministry of Works. So we place a serious premium on closely working with you to ensure we deliver on the mandates in a way that value for money is achieved, in a way that sustainability of what we have on the ground is improved upon and even the quality of the roads that we deliver.

“I think our partnership with you, Your Excellency, is that the quality of the roads that we see must return back to the days when we constructed a road that 25 years later is still intact.”