Nigeria has received additional World Bank financing for the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, following a satisfactory rating by the Bank after a recent assessment.
The approval followed an Implementation Support Mission conducted by the World Bank to review progress under the original financing and agree on next steps under the Additional Financing arrangement for the project.
The project is backed by the Nigerian Government and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
According to a statement by the NUC, SPESSE was established to address critical manpower shortages and the absence of structured academic pathways in procurement, environmental safeguards and social standards across the public and private sectors.
The World Bank mission, led by Task Team Leader, Ishtiak Siddique alongside the National Project Coordinator, Dr Joshua Atah, assessed project activities and performance between January 1 and June 30, 2025.
In its Aide-Mémoire, the mission reported that SPESSE had recorded “significant progress” since the last review, with all four Project Development Objective indicators fully achieved and the overall Project Implementation Progress rated satisfactory.
Independent verification confirmed that 12 of the 18 Performance-Based Conditions have been met or exceeded, while five additional conditions are scheduled for completion by June 30, 2026, in line with the project’s closing timeline.
During the mission, the World Bank team engaged with key stakeholders, including the SPESSE National Facilitation Implementation Unit at the NUC, the Bureau of Public Procurement, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The team also reviewed activities at the six SPESSE 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.
Reports from Centres
Reports from the centres showed progress in meeting project targets, securing international accreditations, implementing disbursement-linked indicators and running student exchange programmes, while tracer studies highlighted the project’s impact since inception.
The project has also launched professional certification examinations in procurement, environmental safeguards and social safeguards, conducted online between April and June 2025, producing 3,429 successful candidates across the three areas.
In addition, more than 85,000 participants have benefited from SPESSE training programmes delivered through the six Centres of Excellence across Tracks A to E.
The Director of the International Economic Relations Department at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr Stanley Nyeso George, described the overall satisfactory rating as uncommon among donor-funded programmes and commended the NUC, project leadership and Centre teams for their performance.
Based on the assessment, the World Bank approved Additional Financing to extend the project’s duration until June 2026, citing improved outcomes and alignment with development objectives.
The renewed funding is expected to support further procurement reforms, expansion of online training platforms and strengthened institutional capacity across the sector.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Procurement has initiated steps to make SPESSE courses mandatory for the professional certification of procurement officers.
Director-General of the Bureau, Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed this during a high-level review meeting with the World Bank at the 2025 SPESSE Implementation Support Mission in Abuja, noting that the proposal has received preliminary approval from the Head of Service and will be reflected in a revised circular governing the procurement cadre.
He reaffirmed the Bureau’s commitment to implementing all project objectives, including the transition to e-procurement, as the World Bank and Nigerian authorities pledged continued support for the project.
PIAK