Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) says it has saved the Federal Government about N1.5 trillion in 17 months through tighter procurement controls, improved benchmarking and reforms aimed at reducing waste and manipulation.
The Director-General of the BPP, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed this on Wednesday August 19 in Abuja at the launch of Advocates for the Promotion of Transparent Procurement Initiatives (APTPI), organised with the theme, “Promoting Transparency, Value for Money and Accountability in Public Procurement.”
Adedokun said the bureau saved N1.1 trillion in the 11 months of 2025, while an additional N400 billion was saved in the first six months of 2026.
He said the N1.1 trillion saved in 2025 represented a significant proportion of the approximately N2.2 trillion saved through government procurement between 2007 and 2025.
According to him, the savings recorded in 2025 and 2026 were largely driven by stronger procurement controls, benchmarking and measures designed to prevent excessive costs in naira, dollars and euros.
The BPP boss also attributed the savings to the digitalisation of procurement processes, saying the bureau had stopped accepting manually submitted documents.
“Already today, nobody sends documents to BPP manually anymore. We won’t accept it. So this can be anywhere now and submit virtually,” he said.
Adedokun said the electronic system would reduce opportunities for manipulation while making procurement processes more transparent and easier to monitor.
He also said the bureau was discouraging excessive reliance on selective tendering, urging government agencies to advertise contracts where appropriate rather than seek approval for selective procurement.
The BPP director-general acknowledged that the reforms would take time to fully transform the public procurement system, stressing the need for sustained institutional changes and greater compliance by government agencies.
He further called on civil society organisations to extend procurement monitoring to state and local governments, noting that a significant proportion of public funds was controlled at the sub-national level.
Adedokun said the bureau was working on a National Procurement Strategy that would establish minimum procurement standards across the federal, state and local governments.
He said the strategy would also be important for projects financed through loans guaranteed by the Federal Government, including funds obtained from international financial institutions.
According to him, such projects should comply with appropriate procurement standards to ensure that borrowed funds are properly utilised.
He also called for stronger collaboration among civil society organisations, professional bodies and international development partners to sustain procurement reforms.
Adedokun disclosed that the BPP had conducted an international competitive bidding exercise entirely online, attracting bidders from 40 countries without requiring them to travel to Nigeria.
APTPI also called for stronger oversight of procurement under the N68.3 trillion 2026 budget, particularly the approximately N32.2 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure.
The Secretary to the APTPI Board, Ayorinde Dola-Johnson, said the focus should not only be on how much government spends but also on the value Nigerians receive from public expenditure.
He warned that weaknesses in procurement could lead to inflated costs, abandoned projects, poor-quality infrastructure, unnecessary contract variations and other forms of waste.
Dola-Johnson said APTPI was established to promote “constructive accountability” by bringing together government institutions, citizens, procurement professionals, researchers and civil society organisations.
He said the organisation would focus on independent monitoring, policy advocacy, citizen participation, open contracting and procurement risk analysis rather than simply criticising government agencies.
Dola-Johnson called for closer cooperation among the BPP, National Assembly, anti-corruption agencies, the Auditor-General, development partners, the private sector and civil society to strengthen public procurement.
He said APTPI would remain non-partisan and evidence-driven, with its success measured by the procurement problems it helped prevent and the improvements it contributed to public spending.
“Every naira committed to public procurement carries a public obligation,” he said, stressing that the ultimate goal should be to ensure that public funds deliver value to Nigerians.
