… As SPESSE Sets New Standard for Procurement Reforms
Nigeria’s efforts to strengthen transparency, environmental responsibility and social safeguards in public procurement are gaining international credibility, following a strong endorsement from the World Bank for the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project.
Rather than focusing solely on policy reforms, SPESSE has distinguished itself by tackling a core structural challenge: the shortage of skilled professionals capable of implementing modern procurement and safeguard standards across the public and private sectors.
That approach has earned the project a satisfactory performance rating from the World Bank and approval for additional financing to extend its impact.
The endorsement followed a recent Implementation Support Mission (ISM) by the World Bank, which reviewed progress under the original funding and assessed readiness for the Additional Financing phase. Led by Task Team Leader Ishtiak Siddique, the mission confirmed that SPESSE has fully achieved all four of its Project Development Objective indicators, with overall implementation progress also rated satisfactory for the first half of 2025.
However, the team further stated that the Independent verification showed that the project has already met or exceeded 12 of its 18 performance-based conditions, placing it ahead of schedule as remaining targets are set for completion by mid-2026.
At the heart of SPESSE’s success is its academic and professional training model, coordinated through six Centres of Excellence located in federal universities across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones.
According to the mission, these centres have become hubs for specialised training in procurement, environmental safeguards and social standards, aligned with international best practices.
During visits to the centres, the World Bank team reviewed achievements ranging from international accreditations and student exchange programmes to tracer studies demonstrating strong labour market outcomes for graduates. Presentations showed that the project has trained over 85,000 participants across multiple learning tracks since inception.
A major milestone came with the introduction of professional certification examinations, conducted online between April and June 2025. The exercise produced 3,429 certified professionals, including over 2,100 in procurement alone, significantly expanding Nigeria’s pool of qualified practitioners in critical governance roles.
The project’s performance has drawn praise from key government stakeholders. Officials at the Federal Ministry of Finance described SPESSE as an outlier among donor-funded initiatives, noting that satisfactory ratings