Job Description
We are actively seeking international and regional/Nigerian experts on a long-term basis to work within one of the targeted Federal States of Nigeria.
Procurement Reform: A major weakness in Nigeria’s governance is corruption in the procurement process, which significantly reduces the resources budgeted for a sector that are actually spent on delivering services in that sector.
The contractor shall work with the selected state governments to improve transparency and reduce corruption in procurement processes. The contractor shall also support target states to update their Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement legislation and put into place policies for the effective implementation of these laws.
The Project
The purpose of the State-to-State (State2State) contract is to increase the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria. This will be achieved by strengthening systems to improve the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene - WASH); increasing the efficiency of key governance operations (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation); increasing government’s responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict. State2State will work together with partner state governments to reform these sectors, and will learn and replicate best practice examples from other states. State2State will support, scale-up, accelerate and institutionalize new and existing initiatives.
State2State is a governance programme. Better governance is a means towards the ultimate end of poverty reduction by measurably improving primary health care, basic education and WASH services. Conflict mitigation is a core theme of the USAID/Nigeria Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS). The Mission expects that improved governance and public services coupled with a Do No Harm approach, conflict mitigation strategies and tools will contribute to reducing violent conflict in the targeted areas.
Background
Nigeria’s federal constitutional structure consists of three tiers of government: federal, state and local. The majority of basic services, including education, health care and WASH, are the responsibility of state and local governments. A host of challenges in carrying out their mandate, which are of three fundamental types, confronts subnational units: governance capacity constraints, financial resource constraints, and sectoral technical capacity constraints. State2State will primarily address the first group of constraint, with supporting interventions on the second type. Other USAID/Nigeria-supported health, education and WASH activities will address the third type of constraints.
Governance capacity constraints are especially problematic in the realm of public financial management. The capacity of state governments to plan their annual budgets, linking them to medium-term expenditure frameworks and sectoral strategic plans, remains weak. As a result, state governments routinely spend only a fraction of their total budgets. Despite the passage by many states of Fiscal Responsibility Acts to parallel the federal Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, these planned and expended state budgets remain highly opaque. A 2015 study found the overall condition of state budget transparency in Nigeria to be “deplorable,” with an average state score of 26 on a scale of zero (complete lack of transparency) to 100 (complete transparency). Despite the passage by many states of Public Procurement Acts to parallel the federal Public Procurement Act of 2007, state procurement processes also lack transparency, are highly susceptible to manipulation, and are a significant source of corruption. Finally, systems of internal financial controls remain weak; audits frequently are not conducted, are of poor quality, or are manipulated to cover up malfeasance.
Timing
This project is a five-year programme expected to run from 2017-2022.
Duty station
The experts will be expected to travel to and undertake long-term assignments in the targeted Federal States.
Required Skills
Key competencies and experience:
Experts should have the ability to deliver Technical Assistance of an international standard to Nigeria’s Federal States, and to work effectively in politically sensitive and challenging environment. You should relish working in a team, should be innovative, energetic, positive, and genuinely committed to achieving lasting change in your work.
The position requires the following skills and experience:
A post-graduate degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics (or related degree) and/or 10+ years of relevant experience.
Hands-on experience in delivering public procurement reform within a sub-national government level including, the drafting and implementation of relevant policies and procedures in line with respective legislation.
Demonstrable knowledge in developing procurement plans, schedules and reports in line with legislation; developing procurement documentation; and support of the procurement process through all of its stages.
Experience working on the development of procurement management systems, as well as the development of approved supplier and consultant databases.
Competent in identifying legislative gaps and recommending relevant amendments/new pieces of legislation.
Ability to deliver technical advice and effectively work with government counterparts in a politically aware manner.
Strong experience in designing and delivering technical training to counterparts, as well as mentoring.
Ability to demonstrate experience and knowledge of using initiative and being client-orientated.
Excellent communication, inter-personal, and team-working skills.
Ability to develop and manage relationships with key stakeholders within both government and the wider environment.
Job Location
Abuja, Sokoto, Bauchi, , Nigeria
Position Type
Full-Time/Regular
Apply by:
28th February 2016 (early applications strongly prefered)
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