…29 reforms planned to curb abandoned projects, improve value for money

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) have moved to overhaul Nigeria’s 19-year-old public procurement law, seeking to strengthen spending controls, curb abandoned projects and ensure that public funds translate into infrastructure, jobs and measurable economic benefits.

The proposed amendment of the Public Procurement Act, 2007, is expected to provide the legal backing for at least 29 procurement reforms being pursued by the BPP, including end-to-end electronic procurement, community-based contracting and measures to widen access to government contracts for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The initiative comes amid longstanding concerns over abandoned public projects, inefficient contract execution and the capacity of government spending to deliver value for money, with the cost of failed projects ultimately borne by taxpayers through lost services, wasted revenue or public borrowing.

Speaking on Tuesday at the NRS headquarters in Abuja during a strategic engagement with the BPP Director-General, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, and his delegation, NRS Executive Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, called for a fundamental review of the procurement framework to reflect present-day economic realities.

Adedeji said innovations introduced by the BPP had helped the NRS deliver its new headquarters, a project he suggested would have been difficult to complete under the existing procurement framework without greater flexibility and forward-looking implementation.

He said the experience reinforced the need to reassess procurement rules in the same way the Federal Government had undertaken reforms in the tax system.

According to him, Nigeria must move beyond rules designed for past economic conditions and develop a procurement system capable of supporting modern infrastructure delivery, efficient public spending and national development priorities.

The proposed reform is significant because procurement determines how much government pays for goods, services and infrastructure, how quickly projects are completed and whether public expenditure generates productive economic assets or leaves behind unfinished projects.

Adedokun framed the problem in direct fiscal terms, describing abandoned projects as a waste of taxpayers’ money, regardless of whether the funding comes from current revenue or loans that future taxpayers must repay.

“Whether for now or the future, it’s still tax money,” he said, stressing the need to prevent public resources from being tied up in projects that fail to deliver their intended benefits.

He said the BPP had already reviewed a number of projects and was prepared to undertake further assignments as directed by President Bola Tinubu.

A major component of the proposed reform is the introduction of a comprehensive electronic procurement system that would digitise the entire contracting process, from identifying government needs to making payments.

Under the proposed arrangement, procurement activities would be conducted electronically, supported by application programming interfaces that would enable relevant systems to exchange information and improve the transmission of public funds into government accounts.

The objective is to strengthen traceability, improve oversight and reduce opportunities for irregularities across the procurement chain.

For the NRS, closer integration between procurement and revenue administration could also improve tax compliance by making it easier to identify transactions and ensure that applicable taxes are remitted at source.

However, the economic impact will depend on how effectively the system is implemented, the quality of its data and the extent to which agencies comply with the new requirements.

Adedokun said the reforms were also intended to improve investor confidence by making government contracting more transparent and predictable.

He argued that confidence in the procurement process could help position Nigeria as an investment destination by giving businesses greater assurance that contracts would be administered within a clear and consistent framework.

The BPP chief also highlighted the revision of procurement approval thresholds, which he credited to the President, as a significant change in public contract administration.

According to him, chief executives of federal agencies can now approve contracts below N10 billion without referring them to the Federal Executive Council, subject to applicable procurement rules and approval requirements.

He said the previous thresholds had become increasingly impractical following changes in exchange rates and the cost of executing projects, making it difficult for major public infrastructure projects to progress within reasonable timelines.

The revised thresholds, he argued, would give agency heads greater room to implement projects while retaining the need to comply with due process.

The NRS headquarters project was cited as an example of how procurement flexibility, when combined with compliance and innovation, could support the delivery of major infrastructure.

Another proposed reform is community-based procurement, which would allow eligible small-scale contracts to be executed closer to the communities where projects are needed rather than requiring local contractors to navigate a centralised system in Abuja.

Adedokun questioned the need for contractors in Nigeria’s 774 local government areas to travel to the federal capital to pursue contracts that could be handled within their localities.

The approach could create opportunities for local enterprises, support employment and enable smaller businesses to participate more actively in public infrastructure delivery.

The BPP also announced a digital capacity-building platform for MSMEs, aimed at improving their readiness to participate in public procurement.

In addition, the proposed reforms include affirmative procurement measures to widen participation by women-owned businesses, youth-led enterprises, persons with disabilities and veterans.

If effectively implemented, the measures could expand access to government-backed business opportunities, stimulate local production and spread the economic benefits of public expenditure beyond established contractors.

Adedokun said the existing Public Procurement Act could not adequately accommodate the scale of reforms being pursued by the bureau, making legislative amendments necessary to provide a stronger legal foundation.

He described the BPP as an enabling institution rather than a bottleneck, saying its responsibility was to help government agencies deliver projects while ensuring compliance with procurement requirements.

He also stressed that obtaining the bureau’s required approvals and complying with due process would provide an important safeguard for public officials and institutions against future investigations over contract administration.

The engagement with the NRS is expected to strengthen technical collaboration between the two institutions as the procurement reform agenda advances.