The Nigeria Association of Auctioneers (NAA) has decried alleged interference of civil servants and secret biddings in auctioneering processes in the country.
The secretary of the association, Engr. Isibor B. Abhulimen said this in Abuja during a training programme organised by the professional group in partnership with the South African College of Auctioneering.
Abhulimen said, “Secret bidding is a crime and that is what the private sector, government establishment have been using to thrive, steal and kill the government”, adding that with adequate measures, the association has the capacity of generating over N150 billion for the economy if given the opportunity to discharge it’s function without interferences from civil servants.
He explained that the biggest challenge in the business of auctioneering was that there has been a lot of interferences from the government sector.
“Some of the people in the civil service wants to do the job of auctioneers and at the end of the day they condemn the government property because they want to be the ones to do the sales and even sell to themselves below the value. But because the auctioneers don’t have favouritism to any particular person buying, they sell at the open competitive market and at a competitive rate, so we try as much as possible to give the best price for the items but when the civil servants come into play they try to downscale”, the association’s scribe added.
He said the association remained committed to helping to shore up the internally generated revenue of the government.
Earlier, the Chairman Board of Trustees of the association, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Brass Kingdom, urged the auctioneers to continue to abide by the ethics of the profession.
“Auctioneering is for qualified and competent people. I urge you all to abide by the ethics and be of good conduct as you discharge your duty as a professional auctioneers”, the royal father added.
