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| Engr S.A Opaluwah receiving his award |
I give God the glory for this event.
I have closely interacted with the members and leadership of the PMG-MAN in the course of my duty tour at the Federal Ministry of Health where I was the Director of Procurement. I believe that this event is a consequence of that period of my public service. When I was informed of today’s event, I was very surprised in the sense that while I knew and interacted with members of PMG-MAN, defended their cause, both at home and at some international fora, I was merely doing my duty as a government official in the Health Ministry and also a patriotic Nigerian.
You can therefore understand my surprise for being recognized for something I enjoyed doing. I am most deeply appreciative. With the advent of the Obasanjo administration on 29th May,1999, the country’s public expenditure profile came under the searchlight of international finance institutions. Nigeria was then saddled with a huge public debt profile, both local and foreign, that stifled development and made life intolerable within our polity.
The new experiment at participative democracy needed the support and encouragement of the international community to deliver the dividends of democracy. It therefore became imperative not only for our government to judiciously manage our dwindling resources, but to ensure that such expenditure complied with international best practices such as transparency, value for money, economic efficiency and competition. Thus, the famous Due Process mechanism which culminated into the Public Procurement Act 2007 was born.
This Act, which was signed into law by our late President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on 4th June, 2007, today governs public expenditure in the Federal Government and some states. With almost a decade of public procurement reforms in Nigeria, it is evident that that policy strengthened by law (the PPA 2007) is a step in the right direction. In an economy such as ours, the challenge of Public Procurement is not just in achieving the benchmarks of International best practice but in addition, aligning public procurement with the long and short term developmental agenda and imperatives of government.
It is in this wise that the imperativeness of giving priority to local Pharmaceutical Manufacturers in Nigeria became not only a necessity but a fundamental objective of Public Procurement in the Federal Ministry of Health during my stewardship. Every Naira of Public expenditure ought to be stretched and turned around within the Nigerian economy in order to reap the utmost benefit, ensure multiplier effect in the economy and impact the polity maximally. This to my understanding is the purpose and intention of organized Public Procurement. And that is what we had set out to achieve in the Federal Ministry of Health.
I wish to dedicate this award to His Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, whose administration provided the enabling environment for the performance that has elicited this award. Mr. President not only approved the policy of patronizing local manufacturers in the Health Sector, but expanded it as directive to all Ministries, Departments & Agencies {MDAs} of government.
I also wish to dedicate this award to the Honorable Minister of Health, Professor C. O. Onyebuchi – Chukwu, who did not only support the policy to give priority to local manufacturers, but championed and defended the cause of PMG-MAN at various levels and fora. I dedicate this award to the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Fatima B. A. Bamidele for her solid support and management of the policy and its successful implementation in the Ministry.
Finally, I dedicate this award to all the staff of the Procurement Department, Federal Ministry of Health (2010 – 2013) for their decision to be patriotic and to put national interest beyond self interest in the discharge of their duties.
On behalf of my family, friends and other well wishers who have accompanied me to this event, I thank you all and May God bless you.
Engr. Samson Ameh Opaluwah
PhD, FNSE, FNIOB, FNICE Friday,
9th August, 2013
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