Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo
has called for a review of the public procurement policies to promote business
integrity, eliminate corrupt practices and drive national transformation.
Obasanjo made the call on Friday
at the sixth Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on Business Integrity in Lagos.
The lecture was organised by the
Convention on Business Integrity Ltd., an anti-corruption, research and
advocacy organisation concerned with issues of accountability and transparency
in public and private sector.
Obasanjo said the country’s
procurement process probably construed the largest source of leakage.
According to him, awards of
contracts, supply, service contracts and others are usually loaded with
provisions for bribes and kickbacks.
Obasanjo identified poor
investment, poverty, infrastructure decay, institutional inefficiency and a
wide range of socio-economic crisis as some of the negative consequences of
corrupt practices and lack of integrity in public and private businesses.
He said: “As Africans, we need to
look inward, we need value and reorientation that is anchored on our virtues of
truthfulness, hospitality, respect, honesty, obedience and patriotism.
“And as a matter of urgent
national emergency, Nigeria must re-invigorate efforts to reform public
procurement policies, especially the Public Procurement Act which regulates
public procurement and aim to minimise the abuse of processes, rules and
standards in the awards and execution of public sector contracts.
“I will also recommend that we
adopt a code of ethics in doing business in Nigeria and ensure a framework to
make it work.
“Integrity is the foundation of
leadership as there are no moral shortcuts in the game of business and life.
“We need integrity in the public
and private business and it must start at the top. Organisations and public
institutions must run their businesses in a forthright manner.
“Make integrity the heart and
soul of your business culture.
“If the entrepreneur does not
have integrity, others who walk with him or her will definitely falter and the
society will also suffer for his self-centredness and misconduct.”
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