The National Universities Commission on Wednesday signed additional $65m performance contracts with Vice-Chancellors of six participating universities under the World Bank-backed Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE).
The signing ceremony, held in Abuja, brought together officials of the NUC, the Bureau of Public Procurement, the World Bank, participating universities, and other stakeholders.
The SPESSE project was launched in 2021 with an initial $80m World Bank facility to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity in procurement, environmental, and social governance through specialised training in universities.
The deal is aimed at strengthening procurement, environmental, and social governance standards nationwide.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, said the additional financing phase marked “a new chapter” in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity in procurement, environmental, and social standards.
“This phase marks not only a continuation of the initiative, but also a renewed opportunity to consolidate achievements, scale impacts, and deepen sustainability measures across the participating institutions,” Ribadu said.
The ES explained that the SPESSE project was established to address shortages in skilled professionals in procurement, environmental, and social safeguards, as well as limited academic programmes in those fields within Nigerian universities.
He stated, “The project was conceived to address a critical gap in the Nigerian university system.
“Insufficient supply of skilled professionals in procurement, environmental and social safeguards, as well as the limited availability of specialised academic programs in these fields.”
According to him, six centres of excellence were established across the geopolitical zones under the coordination of the NUC and with support from the World Bank.
He said the centres, including those located at Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos State University, were helping to produce skilled manpower needed to support transparency, environmental responsibility, and socially inclusive development.
“Today, these institutions are playing a strategic role in producing the skilled manpower required to support transparency, environmental responsibility, and socially inclusive development in Nigeria and beyond,” Ribadu stated.
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He said the project had recorded significant milestones since becoming effective in 2021, including the development of curricula across short courses, postgraduate diplomas, master’s degrees, and undergraduate programmes.
“Resource verification exercises have enabled the centres to mount postgraduate diplomas, master’s, and bachelor’s programmes, while investments in high-performance computing infrastructure, learning management systems, live streaming facilities, and digital learning platforms have strengthened teaching, learning, and research across the centres,” he said.
The ES added that some centres had begun enrolling foreign students, while over 68 international partnerships had been established.
“In 2025, certification protocols for all three thematic areas, that is, procurement, environmental, and social standards, were developed and activated by the Bureau for Public Procurement, the Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs, respectively, to authenticate practitioners,” he said.
