Six Nigerian Universities Become Centres of Excellence in Procurement

Kuni Tyessi

The federal government is set to implement the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project to produce experts in procurement, environmental and social standards in the country.

Six federal universities have been selected to host the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Centres of Excellence (SPESSCEs) for the implementation.

They are the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi; Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (FUAM); the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO); University of Benin (UNIBEN) and University of Lagos (UNILAG).

This is the first time this will be happening in higher education in Nigeria, said Dr. Joshua Atah, project coordinator SPESSE Project Implementation Unit at the National Universities Commission (NUC).

SPESSE is a multi-sectoral project with support from the World Bank. It will address training, professionalisation and research in procurement, environmental and social standards.

It will be implemented by the National Universities Commission (NUC), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Environment and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

Scheduled to be launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the NUC, Abuja, on October 28, SPESSE aims to establish strategic partnerships with leading international research funding research performing and international capacity building organisations and top-performing institutions.

While addressing a stakeholders’ meeting, recently, Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, said he was excited at the potential of SPESSE and the possibilities that it offered both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. He stated that the six centres were selected through a very objective, competitive and rigorous selection process, while the project was designed with the full participation of the private sector, including the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, which represented the Industry in the design of the curricula by NUC.

By developing curricula aligned with international standards, setting up the centres of excellence and supplying qualified professionals, SPESSE will improve, significantly, Nigeria’s capacity for procurement, environmental and social standards.

Rasheed commended the vice-chancellors of the selected universities for the key roles they played in developing the winning proposals and urged them to continue to support the centres for the benefit of their universities, the Nigerian University System (NUS) and the country in general.

The project task team leader at the World Bank, Chief Bayo Awosemusi, disclosed that SPESSE, being the first of its kind for both the World Bank and Nigeria, will be the hub for Africa.

He commended Rasheed for his unprecedented commitment to the success of the project.