The Breau of Public Procurement (BPP) and African Development Bank (AfDB) are partnering to strengthen on-going reform in the energy sector to improve productivity and add value to the economy.

According to a statement by Janet McDickson, Head,  Media, BPP, the Director General of BPP, Mamman Ahmadu, made this known on Tuesday while welcoming the AfDB team to his office.

BRANDPOWER reports that the AfDB team was led by Dr Patrick Owuori, the Regional Procurement Coordinator.

Mamman said that emphasis should be placed on quality while implementing the much needed energy sector reform, adding that  government projects needed to be long-lasting and sustainable.

He said that sufficient rules should be made on how the money the organisation is putting on the table for the project is to be expended.

The director general said that BPP was working assiduously to achieve the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

“Procedures and strategies are put in place for spending government funds that will give value for money,” he said.

According to him, BPP is also collaborating with the World Bank to put in place an e- procurement mechanism for transparency in all procurement processes.

“We are designing a capacity building sector to design customised areas to train procurement officers in skills and knowledge that will match global best practices,’’ he said.

Mamman said that the BPP needed more funding to design procurement capacity that can work with the energy sector and  all procurements across board.

He, however, said.that BPP’s partnership with AfDB would go a long way in enhancing the procurement sector engagement.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Regional Procurement Coordinator, AfDB, Dr Patrick Owuori said, the new government of President Bola Tinubu, in the bid to get the power sector improve its services, had requested AfDB to develop and redesign a template to improve the energy sector.

Owuori said that the task would take them between six and nine months to redesign.

He said that the entire project would cost $1billion, with the timeline between 2023-2024.