Panellists urges industry players to accept students on internship

Panellists have called on industry players in the job market to humbly accept students on internship in relation to their respective academic courses in Procurement, Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

According to the panellists, procurement is the driving force of every institution therefore practitioners, are expected to exhibit fairness, transparency which brings to bear integrity in the dedication of duty in their respective fields of works.

The Panellists made the call at the maiden edition of Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) Business School, Department of Procurement, Logistics and Supply Chain Management during the launch of Academia and Industry Knowledge Seminar Series on the topic: Ghana’s Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914), a Blessing or a Curse, for students at the Tesano Campus in in Accra.

“We challenge students to engage management and staff of procurement agencies as part of effort to have first-hand information as well as the practical aspect on the job in procurement management and its allied job descriptions”, the Panellists advised.

In an address, Dr. Robert Tay, a Consultant in procurement management, said procurement is an art of service of acquiring goods and services with primary funding from government, adding that procurement have impacted on economic and social aspects of all working endeavour.

He however advised students to develop a working framework to strategically guide them in every working space and also maintain a certain level of integrity in the performance of works pointing out that duties of procurement practitioners are quite challenging.

For his part, Mr. Alex Owusu Akrofi, the Chairman for the occasion commended the organizers for such a wonderful programme saying it is the first of its kind thus urged students to take advantage of it.

He said procurement is the heart beat of all institutions in spite of other functional departments because of the significant role it plays towards the growth and development of institutions.

Mr. Akrofi urged students to periodically engage the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) as part of their academic career to enable them have fair knowledge about procurement process and management.

In a related development, a debate on procurement was organized for two student groups as prizes were awarded to deserving students.

Report by Ben LARYEA