BPP Helping Rivers Save Billions

Director General of Rivers Bureau on Public Procurements, RSBPP, Mr. Franklin Nlerum, has said that the people of the state get value for money spent on projects and the provision of infrastructures, as Governor Rotimi Amaechi had made consistent and effective use of RSBPP, which has led to the state saving billions of naira.

According to Nlerum, huge savings were made following the Bureau’s insistence that projects pass through a rigorous test and due process before contractors could get the bureau’s ‘certificate of no objection’ to commence any project.

The RSBPP boss made this known during a media chat in Port Harcourt. Nlerum said that the Amaechi administration had saved billions of naira from projected costs for various projects across the state through the Bureau’s work.

RSBPP’s primary responsibility is to ensure that money for any project in the state is reasonable and adds value to the state.

“I am always reluctant to talk about savings not because we do not save, but because that is not primarily what the law set us up to do.

“The law set us up to ensure that there is value for money, that Rivers State does not pay more than it should pay for any transaction, that a procurement should be fit for purpose, that there should be competition.

“Now, when you follow the issues, which I consider as procedural regularities, you will find out that there will be savings,” Nlerum said.

He also said the process was part of the reasons the state acquired Automated Road Analysers (ARAN) vehicles, which uses technological means to determine road quality.

He noted that the ARAN vehicles would be used by the BPP in collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Works to ensure quality construction and completion of every project.

“We bought the Automatic Road Analyser because we wanted to address a particular problem that is bedeviling not just Rivers State but the entire country, which is roads failing: when do they fail? Do we have any empirical basis of determining when a road is about to fail? What should we do to remedy it?”