Beyond the Red Tape: Strategies to End Procurement Fraud in Nigeria

In the first year of his administration, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered a probe into one of his ministers, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Betta Edu, over allegations of procurement-related fraud, which led to her eventual suspension.

Tinubu’s predecessor,Muhammadu Buhari, had also ordered investigations into cases of infractions against the Public Procurement Act, 2007, with the hope of punishing any civil servant found to have colluded with contractors to subvert the Act. Despite these efforts, many civil and public servants continue to act without integrity, writes Matthew Ogune.

On April 18, 2018,  the Federal Government ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate infractions against the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007, in an effort to punish any civil servant found to have colluded with contractors to subvert the Act.

The then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, who hinted at the 2018 Procurement Retreat for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Federal Government agencies and parastatals in Abuja, vowed that anyone found to have conspired with contractors to sideline the procurement process and procedures contrary to the Act, would be dealt with.

Mustapha, who was represented by Olusegun Adekunle, the Permanent Secretary for General Services in the Office of the SGF, said, “Any CEO who defaults, colludes with contractors or is found to have sidelined the procurement process and procedures, contrary to the provisions of the PPA 2007 will be sanctioned.”

He added that the Federal Government had ordered all its agencies and parastatals to adhere strictly to the 2007 Procurement Act in contracting projects.

Additionally, a former Chairman of the EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, had described the rate of procurement fraud in public service in Nigeria as alarming.

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Bawa, who made the statement during a Batch Conversion Training Programme for Procurement Cadre for Federal Parastatals and Agencies organized by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in Lagos, said that adequate training on procurement issues for government officials would help mitigate violations of the procurement Act.

“When public officers are properly informed or equipped with the requisite knowledge to perform their jobs effectively, the likelihood of involvement in fraudulent acts or corrupt practices will be minimal, and society will be the greatest beneficiary.

“It is, therefore, encouraging that, since 2008, the BPP, as empowered by the Public Procurement, PPA Act (2007), has consistently organized training and development programmes for procurement professionals in all Federal Government institutions.”

Bawa, who further described the BBP as an ally in the anti-corruption war, added that the EFCC’s Procurement Fraud Section was established to check procurement fraud in the public sector.

He said, “As you may have read in the news, a number of procurement officers in public institutions have been convicted and sentenced to various jail terms after diligent prosecution by the Commission, and many are still facing trial in various courts across the country.”

Despite warnings from both the federal government and anti-corruption agencies, civil and public servants are still breaching procurement laws.

For example, on February 16, 2024, the ICPC arraigned a top civil servant, Mr. Bola Audu, over a N72 million procurement fraud allegation.

The defendant, a public officer at the Office of Accountant General of the Federation, was arraigned before Justice Yusuf Halilu, of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja.

In one of the charges against the defendant, he was said to have misappropriated the sum of N69 million meant for the purchase of a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) for the office of the President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN).

He was also charged with diverting another N3 million into the union’s election fund.

Additionally, on April 26 this year, the ICPC detained Gloria Olotu, the Director of Human Resources and General Administration at the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), over a controversial award of a N3.8 billion contract.

Senior officials at the anti-graft agency told newsmen that Mrs. Olotu, along with Kolapo Okunola and Joseph Odo, the agency’s Director of Information Communication Technology (ICT), were at the ICPC office to answer questions on some allegations.

To addressed the situation, Babalola Badirudeen, a 2022 Integrity Icon nominee who currently works at the Ekiti State Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), said in a chat with The Guardian said no sector would be corruption-free if procurement fraud, which he estimated to account for 80% of fraud, is not tackled head-on.

“Let me say 80% of fraud originates from procurement so if we want a society free of corruption, the procurement sector must be free of fraud.

“If fraudsters have no place in procurement, the level of corruption in our society will be reduced to a minimal level,” Badirudeen stated.

Barudeen, who aligns with the ICPC, said that training and re-training of officers in the sector is one way to promote accountability and transparency.

“I also agree with the ICPC review to curb corruption within procurement officers because if the sector is corrupt, automatically every sector will be corrupt,” he said.

He added that there is a need for a review of the existing procurement acts.

In line with the need for a review, lawyer Akintunde F. Adeyemo said that when a new law, designed to promote efficiency and transparency, is passed, its implementation is often hampered by powerful actors—institutions and individuals—who view it as a threat to their arbitrary and corrupt practices Consequently, they slow-walk the implementation of certain provisions in the law.

Adeyome explained that although such laws may meet minimum requirements under global best practices, factors like pervasive bribery and kickbacks hinder their practical implementation.

He suggested that creating an independent tribunal to adjudicate contractual disputes between the Bureau and aggrieved contractors would help.

He said, “Right now, the Bureau is self-policing itself, and contractors, particularly those with grievances against the Bureau, are at the mercy of the same awarding agency.

“It is inevitable that contractual disputes will arise between parties. It is important to have a separate, independent tribunal to objectively review these disputes.”

Taking a different approach, Professor Sope Williams, Deputy Director of the African Procurement Law Unit at Stellenbosch University, advocates for the use of behavioral science to combat public procurement corruption in Nigeria.

In her brief titled ‘Leveraging behavioural insights to mitigate public procurement corruption in Nigeria,’ Williams said these insights can be used to design and implement public policy tools to positively influence human behaviour.

“In relation to addressing corruption, behavioural insights may inform effective anti-corruption interventions that encourage ethical decisions and practices. These interventions may include ‘nudges,’ which are small manipulations in the way choices are presented that can inspire people to make better choices,” she stated.

Williams proposed understanding the problem that nudges seek to address and determining if nudges are suitable in a particular context as a step towards using behavioural science to curb procurement fraud. She added that policymakers must appreciate the level of research, testing, and refinement required for implementing nudges. Successful adoption of nudges requires consistent evaluation of their efficacy and an awareness that different kinds of nudges may have different effects. Finally, for sustainability, ownership of the intervention must be taken by the concerned government agency.

This report is championed by Accountability Lab Nigeria with support from The John D. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation and Luminate.