November 2, (THEWILL) – The decision by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to pursue amendments to the 2007 Public Procurement Act is a welcome development that deserves strong support. The proposed amendment of the 19-year-old law, which is expected to provide the legal foundation for at least 29 procurement reforms, offers an opportunity to address structural weaknesses that have impeded the successful implementation of the rule.
One of the most important aspects of the initiative is the proposed adoption of end-to-end electronic procurement. Nigeria’s public procurement process has historically been vulnerable to excessive discretion, bureaucratic bottlenecks, opaque contract awards and opportunities for manipulation. Moving the entire process online, from advertisement and bidding to evaluation, award and contract monitoring, could significantly reduce these vulnerabilities.
An effective electronic procurement platform would create an auditable trail of government transactions, making it easier for regulators, civil society organisations, journalists and citizens to scrutinise how contracts are awarded and executed. It would also improve competition by enabling more qualified businesses to participate without unnecessary physical contact with government officials. Beyond transparency, digital procurement could reduce administrative costs, shorten procurement timelines and improve the quality of decision-making through access to reliable data.
However, digitisation must go beyond uploading procurement documents onto government websites. It should provide real-time information on contract values, winning bidders, project locations, implementation timelines, variations, payments and completion status. Without this level of disclosure, electronic procurement could simply reproduce existing inefficiencies in a digital format. The intention to widen access to government contracts for MSMEs is another important dimension of the proposed reforms. Small businesses remain critical to employment generation, innovation and economic diversification, yet many struggle to access public procurement opportunities because of complex bidding requirements, high qualification thresholds, delayed payments and the dominance of larger contractors.
A more inclusive procurement system could unlock opportunities for thousands of Nigerian businesses, stimulate local production, encourage entrepreneurship and strengthen domestic supply chains. Government contracts, if properly structured, could become an important instrument for supporting enterprise development and creating sustainable employment.
Nevertheless, opening up procurement opportunities to smaller businesses must not come at the expense of quality. The BPP should establish transparent eligibility requirements, appropriate contract-size thresholds and capacity-building programmes to enable MSMEs to compete effectively. Prompt payment mechanisms are also essential. Awarding contracts to small businesses only to subject them to months of payment delays would undermine the very objective of inclusion.
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Consequently, amending the Public Procurement Act must be accompanied by stronger institutional independence for the BPP, adequate funding, improved technical capacity and effective enforcement powers. Procurement officials, contractors and public office holders found culpable of manipulating contracts, submitting fraudulent bids, inflating costs or abandoning projects without justification must face appropriate sanctions. The reform should also introduce a comprehensive performance-based contract management framework. Government should not measure procurement success merely by the number of contracts awarded or the volume of funds committed. The real test should be whether projects are delivered on schedule, within approved budgets and to the required specifications.
To achieve this, all major public contracts should have clearly defined deliverables, measurable milestones, realistic completion dates and enforceable performance guarantees. Independent technical audits should be conducted at critical stages of implementation, while contract variations must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny to prevent the manipulation of initial contract values. Another critical requirement is transparency in the entire procurement cycle.
The government should establish a publicly accessible national procurement database containing information on contract awards, beneficial ownership of contracting companies, project costs, implementation progress and completion certificates. Such disclosure would help expose conflicts of interest, politically connected contractors and possible collusion in the award of government contracts.
Furthermore, the government should ensure that procurement planning is closely linked to realistic budgetary provisions and project feasibility assessments. One major contributor to abandoned projects is the award of contracts without adequate funding provisions or credible implementation plans. No contract should be awarded without clear evidence that the project is financially viable and that the necessary resources can be mobilised to sustain its execution.
