Yar’Adua bags posthumous award, ex-UNILAG VC, others honoured

By Grace Alegba

One of Nigeria’s former presidents, Late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, on Thursday, bagged a posthumous award in recognition of his selfless service toward nation building.

The award is also in appreciation of his contribution to the development of procurement practice in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the former president was awarded alongside a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), eight governors and several other technocrats, in Lagos.

The awards were presented by the Association of Public Procurement Practitioners of Nigeria (APPON) at its third annual national conference/induction and awards ceremony.

It had the theme: Implementation of e-Procurement in Nigeria; Prospects and Challenges.

Receiving the award on behalf of Yar’Adua, his relation, Alhaji Bashir Tanimu, said the former president who signed the Public Procurement Act 2007 into law, had zero tolerance for corruption.

Tanimu said Yar’Adua would be remembered for several legacies including return of seized Lagos Local Government allocations, dredging of the Niger, Niger Delta amnesty programme, and dedication to rule of law.

He said the former president served with integrity laden with courage, acted with deep love for Nigeria, among other qualities.

Tanimu said the signing of the BPP law represented “philosophy of the late president of Nigeria, Malam Umar Musa Yaradua to nation building and good governance”.

He said in 1999, Yar’Adua was the first governor to publicly declare his assets, adding that, on June 28, 2007, barely a month after his inauguration as President, he did the same.

According to him, the former president presented to the public, photocopies of his completed asset declaration form as submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) which valued his entire assets.

Also speaking, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, immediate past VC of UNILAG, who was also honoured, expressed joy at the development, describing it as heartwarming.

Ogundipe received the Procurement Compliance Excellence Service Award in recognition and appreciation of his selfless service toward nation building and contribution to the development of APPON.

He said that being honoured by the association was another pointer vindicating him as deploying due process in issues of procurement while in the saddle of leadership of the institution.

The former vice chancellor advised other universities administrators to emulate policy of transparency and due process to procurement laws in the award of contracts, to save cost and ensure rapid development.

He said he was happy that there were people taking records, adding that transparency was critical in public service in order to to leave impeccable records behind.

Ogundipe urged President Bola Tinubu to look into the procurement laws and work with the National Assembly towards having amendments for better implementation.

Earlier, the National President, APPON, Emem Kanico, said the boldness of Yar’Adua to sign BPP law gave opportunity for birth of his association.

Kanico also lauded outstanding contributions of the former UNILAG vice chancellor.

He appealed to all tiers of government and chief executives to shun undue interference and allow procurement officers to perform thier duties freely.

He said procurement audit must be handled in accordance with the rules instead of substituting procurement officers with accountants and administrative officers.

The president also advocated special salary scale for procurement officers, to help them to withstand pressure of their jobs.

NAN reports that Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, governors of Ogun, Bauchi, Oyo, Nassarawa, Ondo, Ekiti and Osun,  bagged the Procurement Compliance for Good Governance Award.

The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communication Commission, Mr Danbatta, Johnson Akinwande, a former Chairman of the Lagos Branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and several captains of industry were also given awards..

Also, 341 new members were inducted at the event.

Earlier, giving a keynote, Dr Funmilayo Adekojo, said that e-procurement was a “viable tool for transparency, efficiency, competition, integrity, and cost saving”.

She enumerated challenges of inadequate internet access and other infrastructure shortfalls, and proffered solutions on what governments and institutions must do to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria.

(NAN)