The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has cautioned against removing essential safeguards in the proposed amendment to the Public Procurement Act, 2007, stressing that efforts to improve efficiency must go hand in hand with accountability.

Director-General, BPP, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, gave the warning at the BPP-Civil Society Organisation Engagement 2.0 on public procurement reforms held at the UBEC Digital Resource Centre, Abuja.

He said the proposed amendment formed part of the wider reform programme, but stressed that any amendment to the Act must pass through the appropriate legislative process.

According to him, stakeholders must also clearly distinguish between proposals for changes to the law and the provisions of the law currently in force.

“Our guiding principle is that greater efficiency must go hand in hand with accountability. Removing unnecessary delays must not mean removing essential safeguards,” he said.

The Director-General said the bureau’s reform agenda was focused on moving public procurement beyond procedural compliance towards performance, transparency, integrity and measurable development outcomes.

He listed areas receiving attention to include strengthening procurement reviews and due process, improved price intelligence, procurement surveillance and audit, monitoring and evaluation, contractor classification and categorisation, increased participation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and implementation of the Nigeria First Policy.

He also said the BPP was strengthening the digital architecture around public procurement through platforms including the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal (NOCOPO), Contractors, Consultants and Service Providers platform, National Procurement Officers Management System and Nigerian Public Procurement Certification Programme.

The BPP boss, however, said technology, regulations and institutions alone could not deliver the desired procurement system, stressing the need for citizens and civil society organisations (CSOs) to participate in the reform process.

He noted that collaboration with CSOs had a legal foundation in the Public Procurement Act, citing Section 19, which provides for credible observers in procurement proceedings, including representatives of non-governmental organisations working in transparency, accountability and anti-corruption.

He said such observers had the right to submit their observations to relevant bodies, describing the provision as recognition of the importance of independent observation and public accountability.

The Director-General proposed the establishment of a structured BPP-CSO Public Procurement Partnership Framework, which he said should focus on five areas: capacity building; access to information and data; procurement and project monitoring; reporting and early warning; and citizens’ engagement.

He said CSOs should be equipped to understand procurement legislation, processes, Standard Bidding Documents, contract management, open contracting data and procurement red flags.

On project monitoring, he urged CSOs to follow selected projects from procurement planning and contract award through implementation and service delivery, particularly projects that directly affect communities.

The Director-General stressed that the independence of civil society must be protected under the proposed partnership.

“We do not expect Civil Society Organisations to become an extension of government.

“We expect you to ask questions. We expect you to examine the evidence. We expect you to identify weaknesses. And where necessary, we expect you to challenge us constructively,” he said.

He, however, urged CSOs to ensure that criticism was evidence-based, while government institutions should remain prepared to listen and respond transparently.

The BPP boss called for a shift from contract monitoring to what he described as development monitoring, urging stakeholders to look beyond whether a contract was properly awarded to whether it delivered the promised benefits.

“We should not monitor procurement only by asking: ‘Was the contract awarded correctly?’

“We should also ask: ‘Did the contract deliver what Nigerians were promised?'” he said.

He cited questions around whether hospitals were completed, equipment delivered, roads made functional, classrooms put to use and communities provided with potable water as key measures of procurement accountability.

He said the ultimate objective should be achieving value for money and ensuring that public procurement translated into improved services and development outcomes.

The Director-General said no single stakeholder could reform Nigeria’s public procurement system alone, urging government, regulators, civil society and the private sector to work together to build a stronger accountability ecosystem.

He said the success of the proposed partnership should be measured not by the number of meetings held, but by “the projects we improve, waste we prevent, transparency we create, communities we empower and public value we deliver.”

“Because ultimately, public procurement is public trust—and protecting that trust is a responsibility we all share,” he added.