Six host universities of the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project signed new Performance Contracts on Wednesday, formally launching the project’s Additional Financing phase.
Welcoming participants, National Universities Commission(NUC), Executive Secretary Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu said the signing marked a new chapter in Nigeria’s effort to strengthen capacity in procurement, environmental and social standards.
He noted that the Additional Financing phase of $65 million from the World Bank had become effective about three weeks earlier, raising the project’s total funding to $145 million and extending implementation to June 2029.
With World Bank support and NUC coordination, six Centres of Excellence were established across the six geo-political zones through a competitive selection process that assessed institutional readiness, quality assurance and sustainability.
Ribadu said the new phase would focus on strengthening institutional ownership, expanding online and distance learning, increasing regional enrolment, deepening industry and international partnerships, mobilising resources and ensuring long-term sustainability beyond external funding.
He highlighted that sustainability plans had led to the commencement of PhD programmes in three of the six centres, with the remaining three set to start in July 2026.
The NUC has set additional targets for the phase, including the production of at least 60 PhDs, enrolment of no fewer than 60 foreign students, facilitation of 18 staff internships and provision of 60 student exchange programmes with foreign institutions.
Also speaking at the event, Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr. Adebowale A. Adedokun stated that the project had attracted national and global interest by producing academically sound and professionally trained officers, and by fostering collaboration between centres of excellence and implementing agencies.
Adedokun noted that the initiative now covers federal, state and local government levels, with industrial experts coming on board to support it.
He said that under the Additional Financing period, the bureau would work with stakeholders to produce public procurement officers who are both academically and professionally competent.
He added that the project had trained and satisfied over 2,700 officers from various centres, drawn from federal, state, local governments and, more recently, foreign countries.
Adedokun said the phase would also support the development and deployment of the government’s electronic procurement system and online capacity building for SMEs and policymakers handling public funds.
In his remark, World Bank Task Team Lead Mr. Ishtiak Siddique noted that the additional financing of $65 million, effective two weeks earlier, built on the $80 million original project and aimed to scale activities that worked while applying lessons from challenges faced.
Siddique said at least 24,000 more people would be trained under the phase, with priority given to critical public agencies at federal, state and local levels.
He noted that over 4,000 people had already been certified through the portals launched in 2025.
Officials present included representatives of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission.
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