Lagos: The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, has announced new reforms aimed at overhauling the nation’s public procurement system to restore transparency, accountability, and value for money. Adedokun made the announcement on Thursday in Lagos at a stakeholders’ consultative meeting organized by the BPP with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-Partnership for Agile Governance and Climate Engagement (PACE).
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the event brought together contractors, suppliers, consultants, civil society organizations, and professional bodies to deliberate on the Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems (MAPS). Adedokun emphasized that Nigeria’s development is directly tied to the integrity of its procurement system, vowing to ‘shake the system’ where necessary to protect public resources and promote sustainable development.
Adedokun stated that over the past decade, Nigeria’s procurement culture had deteriorated, allowing entrenched practices that undermine due process and national development. He noted that correcting the system will be difficult but necessary, as procurement remains central to infrastructure delivery, service provision, and overall economic growth.
He disclosed that upon assumption of office, he received a directive from President Bola Tinubu to reform procurement at the federal level, stressing that the system requires a total overhaul rather than cosmetic adjustments. Adedokun warned that procurement officers must not view their roles as avenues for personal enrichment, adding that any officer seeking wealth through the system should resign.
Public officials and contractors were described by Adedokun as collaborators in procurement abuse, condemning contract inflation and inducements offered to government officials. He revealed that within one year of tightening approval processes and eliminating blanket ‘no objection’ practices, the BPP identified discrepancies amounting to N1.1 trillion that could have been lost through leakages.
Adedokun added that 13 agencies and contractors were recently referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for investigation over alleged procurement violations. He announced the introduction of a Nigerian first policy to prioritize locally assembled vehicles and key sectors such as textiles and manufacturing in public procurement.
He mentioned that the bureau was implementing affirmative procurement measures to allocate a percentage of public contracts to women-led businesses, youths, persons with disabilities, start-ups, and veterans. Adedokun explained that the BPP was moving toward sector-based procurement thresholds and contractor categorization to eliminate the era of ‘general contractors’ handling projects outside their areas of core competencies.
He unveiled a policy to blacklist contractors who deliver substandard projects, noting that poor performance would no longer go unpunished. Adedokun said the bureau would deploy an AI-driven question-and-answer platform to improve guidance, transparency, and responsiveness to stakeholders.
He also announced the digitization of the procurement process beginning March 2, to reduce human interference and enhance transparency. Earlier, Mrs. Chioma Itodo from PACE explained her organization’s partnership with the BPP to strengthen Nigeria’s procurement system.
She said the PACE programme facilitates dialogue between government and citizens to address procurement challenges and is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office but implemented locally. According to her, the programme is supporting the BPP in implementing MAPS as a pathway toward developing a comprehensive national procurement strategy.
She said the assessment was conducted independently to ensure credibility, objectivity, and transparency. Itodo explained that over the past six months, independent assessors had led the evaluation while the bureau facilitated stakeholder engagements.
She described MAPS as a diagnostic framework for examining the nation’s procurement history, strengths, and gaps, while outlining four pillars of assessment. She highlighted progress recorded, including engagement sessions with the Office of the Head of Civil Service, permanent secretaries, and procurement directors from 13 selected MDAs.
Itodo said that after an initial virtual consultation with civil society groups and bidders recorded low participation, physical sessions were convened in Kano and Lagos to boost stakeholder input. She added that 387 procurement files across the 13 MDAs were reviewed in an exercise she described as rigorous and driven by the bureau leadership’s sincerity of purpose.