The Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards (SPESSE), a World Bank-funded project, has strengthened Nigeria’s procurement reforms through a novel certification programme introduced by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
According to the statement by Zira Nagga, Head of Press and Public Relations of the BPP in Abuja on Wednesday, the Nigeria Procurement Certification Programme (NPCP), introduced by the BPP, is designed as a professional procurement registry open to all citizens practising procurement across the public and private sectors.
He said that SPESSE, through the certification programme, had made significant contributions to procurement reforms by producing a new crop of skilled procurement professionals.
According to him, the programme, implemented in partnership with the BPP, establishes a nexus between the certification programme and key components of the Public Procurement Act 2007.
“It also establishes a nexus between the “Nigeria First Policy”, debarment policy, affirmative procurement, community procurement, sector-based procurement and the use of standard bidding documents, among others,” he said.
Nagga said that ahead of the convocation ceremony of the first cohort of graduates scheduled for Jan. 29, no fewer than 2,100 graduates, including participants from foreign countries, would be awarded certificates.
“The SPESSE certification programme has equipped procurement professionals with the knowledge and skills to manage public procurement processes effectively, promoting transparency and accountability,” he said.
He said that the knowledge acquired from the programme had enhanced compliance with the Public Procurement Act 2007 and other regulatory frameworks, thereby reducing the risk of corruption and promoting good governance.
In his remarks, the Director-General (D-G) of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, described the SPESSE certification programme as a game-changer for Nigeria’s procurement reform.
“The SPESSE certification programme has equipped procurement professionals with the knowledge and skills to manage public procurement processes effectively, promoting transparency and accountability.
“We look forward to continuing our partnership with the World Bank on the SPESSE project to further strengthen our procurement systems,” Adedokun said.
He said that the SPESSE was more than a training programme, but also a deliberately engineered architecture for human capital transformation.
“It embeds procurement in our academic institutions and in our national psyche as a profession worthy of respect and central to development outcomes.
“At the heart of this architecture are our six SPESSE Centres of Excellence at the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
“The others are University of Benin, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.”
The D-G said that each centre fulfilled a distinct strategic purpose, collectively forming a network of national capability.
He said that the SPESSE project had made significant contributions in the environmental and social standards components of the project.
He also commended the World Bank for its commitment as demonstrated through its funding support.
GIK/APA