ROLE OF INTEGRITY AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY IN ENHANCING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PRACTICES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Integrity refers to the acceptable standards of behavior and moral principles that guide a profession in society at large. Public accountability is the process of dealing with proper documentations of procurement activities. This study empirically examines the role of integrity and public accountability in enhancing public procurement practices in the Nigerian Civil Service. A survey research design was adopted. The population of this study consisted of two thousand nine hundred and thirty-three (2933) staff members of the public procurement department/unit of different federal government ministries in Abuja. A sample size of 352 staff members was obtained with the aid of Taro Yamane formula. Stratified random sampling was used in selecting the 352 staff members for this study. Out of 352 copies of the questionnaires administered, 330 were retrieved. However, 318 copies of the questionnaires were found usable for data analyses. In testing the various hypotheses stated for this study, multiple regression analysis was used. The regression result revealed that public accountability has a positive and insignificant effect on public procurement practices and integrity has a positive and significant effect on public procurement practices at a 1% level of significance. The study recommends that there should be continuous re-orientation of public procurement officers on the need for integrity and transparency in the procurement procedure.