Procurement: Don harps on digital literacy, ethical AI tools
By Magdalene Ukuedojor
Prof. Yusuf Isah, a Professor of Economics at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, says the procurement sector must embrace digital literacy and ethical AI tools to enhance performance.
Isah spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Centre of Excellence (SPESSECE ABU) programme in Abuja.
Procurement is the comprehensive process of acquiring goods and services for an organisation, encompassing everything from identifying needs to finalising the purchase and payment based on clear, open guidelines and regulations.
It is a strategic function that involves more than just purchasing; it includes sourcing, negotiation and contract management to ensure the organisation gets the best value for its money.
Isah, therefore, urged ministries, departments and agencies of government to key into modern technology tools for smooth and effective operations in line with international best practices.
“Digital literacy is actually one of the new innovations.
“We are in a digital world; the pace of change is very rapid. Procurement cannot be left behind.
“So, it is very important and all procurement professionals need to be digitally literate.
“What it entails to be digitally literate 10 years ago is slightly different from what it entails to be digitally literate now, particularly in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).
“There are procurement digital infrastructures that may also need procurement professionals to be able to understand certain AI systems.
“So that is why digital literacy now is all-encompassing; it goes beyond just appreciating the use of computer equipment and all that.”
He also stressed the need for an enhanced bandwidth to guarantee seamless digital operations, noting the speed at which information is passed across different units of the digital space.
“The bandwidth is an important aspect of digitising systems or digitising processes. There’s a coverage but there’s also the bandwidth.
“So, the bandwidth is what ensures that digital operations are seamless in terms of either uploading or downloading, the speed at which information is passed across different units of the digital space.
“So, bandwidth is also very important and what you notice generally, not just in Nigeria but in most developing countries, is that the bandwidth is limited; that in itself places a barrier to the extent to which you can digitise the procurement process.”
He harped on the need for basic understanding of procurement in both public and private sectors, reiterating the need to highlight the input, output and outcome priorities of services.
“As a public servant or as a civil servant in Nigeria, you need to have a basic understanding of what procurement and procurement management is.
“With the context of procurement, usually public sector entities are guided by their specific mandates in terms of providing either goods or services to the citizens.
“In the process of doing that, usually there is a need for them to acquire certain inputs, and the idea is that these inputs are now supposed to translate into expected output and subsequently to expected outcomes.
“So, we make this distinction between input, output and outcomes to show that when analysing the use of public resources, more often than not, we focus on the output.
“But we need to also be interested in the outcomes and more often than not, these outcomes are usually things that reflect in the developmental indicators that we are all interested in, in terms of whether education, health, poverty, social inclusion and so on and so forth.”
The economist also highlighted the need for social and gender inclusivity in procurement as a core value for social harmony and stability in the system, urging procurement officers to hone their skills and competencies in ethics of the profession. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
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