Bangor Law School to collaborate with the Nigerian National Universities Commission on Procurement Studies

Staff from Bangor Law School visited Nigeria last month to discuss collaboration in the field of Procurement Studies.

Professor Dermot Cahill, Head of the Law School and Director of the Institute for Competition and Procurement Studies, and Dr Ama Eyo, Public Procurement Specialist and Director of Bangor’s LLM in Public Procurement Law & Strategy, paid a courtesy visit to Professor Julius Okojie, OON, Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the NUC Senior Management Team.

The visit provided an opportunity for the Law School and the NUC to discuss issues of mutual interest, in particular pertaining to University staff exchange opportunities and consideration of the introduction of public procurement into the syllabus in Nigerian universities. In his welcome remarks, the Executive Director warmly recalled time spent at Bangor University as part of his graduate studies, and his very fond memories of living and studying in the very scenic Bangor area of North Wales in the United Kingdom. The Executive Secretary commended Bangor University on its wide range of unique academic programmes, ranging from Islamic Banking, Public Health and Medical Molecular Biology, to Forestry, Environmental Sciences and Ocean Sciences, including Applied Marine Geoscience.

In his response, Professor Cahill gratefully acknowledged the warm welcome from the Executive Secretary and his team, and was delighted to note that Professor Okojie had previously spent some time in Bangor. Retracing Bangor University’s history, from its initial establishment as the North Wales campus of the University of Wales in 1884, Prof Cahill noted that a lot of progressive and continuous changes have occurred in the University, which has a long tradition of excellence, both for academic standards and student experience. Professor Cahill explained how Bangor University faculties consistently rank highly in the UK national Research Assessment Exercise, which shows it as a world leading research university in many academic specialisms including Accounting & Finance  (in which the University is rated as the best for research in the UK) and Electronic Engineering (in which it is rated second in the UK).

Professor Cahill also explained that another emerging area of research and teaching expertise in Bangor University is Public Procurement research and education. He explained that Bangor University offers a dedicated postgraduate programme of studies (LLM) in Public Procurement Law and Strategy, with the objective of transforming the approach taken to public procurement by public officials. Professor Cahill thereafter compared the approach taken to public procurement  practice and regulation in the United Kingdom and highlighted numerous research studies at Bangor Law School and the ICPS at Bangor University, which have assisted in transforming public procurement practice in the UK and the European Union.

In further discussions between the NUC Team and the delegation from Bangor University on the need for clear and effective public procurement laws, Dr Eyo gave a passionate account of how she and other colleagues at Bangor University are willing to assist with raising the profile of public procurement, as a subject of study in Nigerian Universities, so that scholars and practitioners will be equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to ensure that the Nigerian public sector gets better value for money through its procurement activities.

Professor Cahill formally extended an offer from the University to assist academic staff in Nigerian universities to create a syllabus for a course of study on Public Procurement relevant to the Nigerian situation. He also extended an invitation for university staff from Nigerian universities to visit Bangor University and confirmed that Bangor University will offer library support in the form of book donations to help strengthen law school libraries in Nigerian universities. These offers were warmly accepted by Professor Okojie and his team.

Publication date: 18 February 2014