• CPPE tasks FG on prioritising supply-side interventions
• BPP moves to curb contract cost inflation with new variation guidelines

Director-General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr Chinyere Almona, has expressed dismay over the increase in Nigeria’s headline inflation rate to 15.69 per cent in April 2026 from 15.38 per cent in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
  
She lamented that the rising inflation has continued to weigh heavily on manufacturers, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), traders and consumers through rapidly rising costs of food, transportation, energy and logistics.
  
For the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, although inflationary pressures remain elevated, the pace of acceleration was relatively moderate.
  
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has unveiled a new regulatory framework aimed at tightening oversight of contract variations and preventing arbitrary increases in public project costs across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
  
The higher rural inflation rate of 16.36 per cent, she said, also highlights ongoing supply chain disruptions, insecurity in food-producing areas, and weak distribution infrastructure.
  
Even as inflation declined significantly from 26.82 per cent in April 2025, she noted that businesses and households had yet to experience meaningful relief, as purchasing power remains weak and operating costs remain elevated.
  
She urged the Federal Government to consolidate macroeconomic reforms by stabilising FX, addressing energy and logistics costs, improving food supply systems and strengthening support for domestic production and private sector investment.
  
Almona urged stronger coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities to sustain the moderation in inflation and restore investor and consumer confidence in the economy.
  
“The LCCI reiterates that durable price stability can only be achieved through productivity-driven reforms, improved infrastructure, enhanced food security and a more business-friendly operating environment.
  
“We must begin to develop long-term strategies to reduce the shocks on the economy from global crises, whether in energy supply chain disruptions or trade wars. We have an opportunity to reset our oil and gas industry as the next supply hub of gas to Europe and a net oil exporter to African countries,” she said.

Under the new policy approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), all requests for contract sum revisions, fluctuation claims and scope modifications must now be reviewed and certified by the BPP before they can proceed to the relevant approving authority.
  
The guidelines, which take immediate effect, also make the use of approved final project designs mandatory for all federal procurements in a bid to reduce avoidable contract variations linked to faulty or incomplete designs.
   
According to a statement issued at the weekend by the Head of Press and Public Relations of the BPP, Zira Nagga, the new framework supersedes the 2013 policy that required presidential approval for variations above 15 per cent of the original contract sum or exceeding N1 billion.
  
The statement explained that the revised policy aligns approval procedures with the new Service-Wide Prior Review and Monetary Thresholds approved by the Federal Government in May 2025.
  
Under the guidelines, no variation order, fluctuation claim, or scope modification will be processed without a BPP Certificate of No Objection.
  
Director-General of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, said the measures were necessary to prevent abuse of the procurement system through inflated project costs and unjustified scope adjustments.
  
“Variations must not become a backdoor for cost inflation and scope creep. These guidelines ensure that every adjustment to a public contract is necessary, justified and delivers value to Nigerians,” he said.