By Philip Nwosu
The Nigerian Army has charged beneficiaries of its recent conference on procurement to utilise the knowledge gained to promote transparency and accountability in all aspects of public bureaucracy.
Speaking at the end of the two-day conference, the Acting Chief of Accounts and Budget (Army), Brig.-Gen. Jahadi Jakko, said the conference was designed to enlighten officers on guidelines necessary for defence procurement.
He explained that the issue of procurement in the Nigerian Army and the military in general has become challenging, adding that, “if you recall contracts that were awarded in January, last year were based on the dollar exchange rate of N197 to dollar.
“And most of our defence procurement, particularly the hardwares, the arms and ammunition are denominated in dollars eventhough we have to convert them to naira.
“Today, if you are to execute such contracts with the increase of naira exchange from N197 to N350 today, you can see that you might not even be able to pay half the price of a contract. Now, these are part of the challenges that are confronting us.”
Jakko said the central objective of the reforms of the Federal Government was to promote transparency and accountability in all aspect of public bureaucracy.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division of the Army, Maj.-Gen. Isidore Edet, who was the special guest of honour advised the officers to always follow the leader.
“The leader in the nation today has brought a change which we should all follow,” he said.
He enjoined officers to also show improvement in leadership qualities.
The conference was attended by about 40 officers.
The army top brass at the closing ceremony included Brig.-Gen. C. Agulanna, Brig.-Gen. E. Edafioghor, Brig.-Gen. M. Aminu- Kano(rtd.) among others.
The 2016 Chief of Account and Budget Conference which theme was: “Defence procurement: Imperative of the Public Procurement Act (2007) for the Nigeria Army’’, held at the Army Finance Corps, Apapa.
The participants were senior officers drawn from the Army headquarters and other formations and units.