The Federal Government plans to launch a digital marketplace that will connect contractors, suppliers, and government procuring entities as part of ongoing efforts to modernise Nigeria’s public procurement system, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, has said.
Adedokun disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday during the inaugural Procurement Evolution Day organised by the BPP to commemorate nearly two decades of procurement reforms in Nigeria.
According to him, the proposed Nigeria E-Market will be a key component of the bureau’s digital transformation programme, aimed at reducing human interference, increasing transparency, and improving competition in public procurement.
He said, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the process of introducing what is called Nigeria E-Market, where buyers and sellers meet.”
The BPP boss explained that the initiative was part of broader reforms designed to digitise procurement processes and make contract administration more efficient.
He noted that the bureau had already commenced the first phase of its digital transformation programme, adding that the physical submission of procurement requests had largely been eliminated.
“In the last year, we no longer receive hard copies of requests. Now, it’s a direct transmission digitally to the Bureau of Public Procurement. This is the first phase of our total digital transformation of the procurement landscape in Nigeria,” he said.
Adedokun said the e-marketplace would complement other technology-driven reforms being implemented by the bureau, including the upgrade of the Contractors and Consultants Service Provider database.
According to him, the enhanced platform will ensure that contractors are classified according to competence and can only bid for projects within approved categories.
“In the next few weeks, we are introducing the enhanced CCSP, where contractors of equal competency can only bid for projects within a particular category and class,” he stated.
The BPP director-general also revealed that the bureau had launched a centralised platform for monitoring projects, assets, and procurement personnel across the country.
He said the platform had helped the bureau build a database of more than 4,000 registered procurement officers nationwide. “Today, we have not less than 4,000 registered procurement officers nationwide on this database. This has given us the opportunity to know where every officer is currently and correctly practising procurement,” he said.
Adedokun added that the bureau was developing a National Procurement Transformation Strategy that would provide a long-term roadmap for procurement reforms across the federal, state, and local government levels.
He said the strategy would strengthen transparency, efficiency, and accountability in the management of public resources. The BPP chief further disclosed that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies would be required to publish details of contract awards monthly and submit quarterly performance reports to improve oversight and public access to procurement information.
“In order to ensure projects are implemented in accordance with the terms of contracts, we have agreed that all MDAs must publish all contracts on their websites and on the website of BPP every month and must forward quarterly complete reports,” he said.
Adedokun noted that the reforms were aligned with the Federal Government’s broader objective of leveraging technology to improve governance and service delivery while ensuring value for money in public spending.
He said the bureau would continue to deploy digital tools and data-driven systems to strengthen procurement processes and reduce corruption risks in contract administration.
The PUNCH earlier reported that the Bureau of Public Procurement plans to blacklist contractors who violate procurement rules as part of efforts to strengthen accountability and curb abuses in public contracting nationwide.
Read the full article here
