The World Bank has approved additional financing for Nigeria’s Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement, SPESSE, project.
The funding approval follows the Bank’s satisfactory rating of the project to drive critical manpower gaps in procurement, environmental and social standards.
Supported by the Federal Government of Nigeria, the World Bank and the National Universities Commission, NUC, SPESSE was conceived to address a long-standing challenge in both the public and private sectors: the shortage of skilled professionals and the absence of structured academic and professional pathways in procurement, environmental safeguards and social standards.
Through coordinated training programmes anchored by six Centres of Excellence across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones, the project has steadily bridged this gap, producing a new generation of professionals equipped to operate in line with global best practices.
The World Bank recently reaffirmed its confidence in the initiative during an Implementation Support Mission, ISM, conducted to assess progress, review activities under the original financing and agree on next steps under the Additional Financing window.
The mission was led by the Bank’s Task Team Leader, Ishtiak Siddique, alongside the National Project Coordinator, Dr Joshua Atah of the NUC.
According to the mission’s Aide Memoire, SPESSE has recorded “significant progress” since the last review. All four Project Development Objective, PDO, indicators have been fully achieved, while overall Project Implementation Progress was rated satisfactory following verification for the January 1 to June 30, 2025 period. Independent verification also confirmed that 12 of the 18 Performance-Based Conditions, PBCs, have been met or exceeded.
Five additional PBCs are expected to be completed by June 30, 2026, with the remaining targets aligned with the project’s closing timeline.
The Memoire said during the mission, the World Bank team engaged with key national and state stakeholders, including the SPESSE National Facilitation Implementation Unit at the NUC, the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
It noted that the team also reviewed activities at the six Centres of Excellence hosted by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Federal University of Technology, Owerri; University of Benin; and the University of Lagos.
Presentations were made by the centres highlighting milestones achieved, progress toward PDO targets, international accreditations, disbursement-linked indicators and student exchange programmes.
Tracer studies further underscored the project’s broad and measurable impact since inception.
One of SPESSE’s most notable achievements is the launch of professional certification examinations in procurement, environmental safeguards and social safeguards.
Conducted online between April and June 2025, the examinations produced 3,429 successful candidates, including 2,121 in procurement, 855 in social safeguards and 453 in environmental safeguards.
Beyond certification, more than 85,000 participants have benefited from SPESSE training programmes across Tracks A to E at the six Centres of Excellence. Even disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic during the early phase of implementation failed to derail the project’s steady progress.
The strong performance has earned SPESSE recognition as one of Nigeria’s standout development interventions.
An overall satisfactory rating at this stage is uncommon among donor-funded projects, according to the Director of the International Economic Relations Department at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr Stanley Nyeso George.
Stakeholders have commended the NUC under both its current and former leadership, as well as Dr Atah, for providing strategic direction, while Centre Leaders and their teams were praised for delivering tangible results.
In recognition of these gains, the World Bank approved Additional Financing to extend the project to June 2026, citing SPESSE’s improved outcomes and strong alignment with its development objectives.
With renewed funding, the project is expected to deepen procurement reforms, expand online training platforms and strengthen institutional capacity, delivering long-term benefits to Nigeria’s public sector, private enterprises and local communities.
Stakeholders maintain that the priority remains translating training and certification achievements into measurable improvements in transparency, efficiency and inclusiveness within Nigeria’s procurement system.
In a move to institutionalise these standards, the Bureau of Public Procurement has initiated steps to make SPESSE courses mandatory for the professional certification of all procurement officers.
The Director-General of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed this at a high-level review meeting with the World Bank during the 2025 SPESSE ISM in Abuja.
Adedokun said the proposal has received preliminary approval from the Head of Service and will be incorporated into the revised circular governing the procurement cadre.
He reaffirmed the Bureau’s commitment to delivering all project objectives, including the transition to e-procurement.
Both the Bureau and the World Bank reiterated their resolve to ensure the continued success of SPESSE, now widely regarded as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s push for sustainable procurement, accountable governance and skills-driven development.
