Procurement Specialist at West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP)

The West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP) is a World Bank assisted Programme for member-countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), designed to make agriculture more productive and sustainable and also to enhance sub-regional integration. In Nigeria, WAAPP works towards achieving its objective of increasing agricultural productivity while promoting sub-regional integration along the value chains of its targeted commodities (aquaculture, cassava, maize; rice, sorghum, yam, poultry and fruit processing); while assisting in the realization of the Nation's Agricultural Transformation Agenda, this it does via four (4) components, which are:

• Enabling conditions for sub-regional cooperation in technology generation, dissemination and adoption;
• National Centre of Specialization and Excellence in Aquaculture;
• Funding of demand-driven technology generation and adoption;
• Project coordination, management, monitoring and evaluation.

WAAPP is coordinated at the sub-regional level by the West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD). In Nigeria WAAPP is implemented by Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMA&RD) through a Project Coordination Office (PCO). WAAPP-Nigeria became effective in January 2012 and the first phase will close in 2016. The Project requires the services of exceptional and highly motivated professionals to fill the below position:

Job Title: Procurement Specialist

Location: Abuja

Duties and Responsibilities
The Procurement Specialist position reports to the National Project Coordinator, and shall be responsible for

• Overall procurement planning and implementation, to ensure timely provision of resources and services for efficient implementation of the project in accordance with the schedule;
• Interactions with suppliers on a daily basis to resolve transactional issues and gather critical information invoices, tracking info, tax docs. etc.
• Appropriate supplier selection/bidding processes for selected purchase requests, and supplier and contract pricing validation for all purchase requests under category management responsibility.
• Managing projects to improve procurement processes.
• Responsible for supplier communication to resolve transactional issues.
• Resolving invoice price and terms discrepancies to enable order processing.

Preferred qualifications
Candidates for Procurement Specialist position should possess:

• Nigerian citizenship;
• MBA or a degree in Procurement, the Social Sciences or a degree in Law;
• Evidence of previous training in World Bank Procurement Procedures;
• Evidence of previous experience in Procurement practice in a World Bank funded project, preferably in the position of Head of Procurement Unit;
• Strong familiarity with World Bank Guidelines and IDA Procurement procedures;
• Knowledge of supply chain management
• Buyer experience in a computerized environment.
• Past use of an order management system. Experience in online purchasing.
• Ability to communicate and write effectively in English.

Duration of Employment Contract
Duration of the employment contract will be 2 (Two) years for all positions (renewable, but based upon the incumbent’s performance and if the relevant project activities are continuing)

Remuneration
Package will be commensurate with professional experience and qualifications

Application Closing Date
13th November, 2014

Method of Application
Interested candidates should forward Ten hard copies of their application letters together with ten copies of their credentials to:

The Office of the National Project Coordinator,
WAAPP-Nigeria,
Project Coordination Office (PCO),
No. 2, Franca Afegbua Crescent,
Off Samuel Jereton Mariere Road,
Apo, Abuja.