By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — THE Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, Wednesday, launched the National Procurement Certification Portal, NPCP, to address the challenges of effective utilization of public resources that have impeded broader economic development in the country.

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the introduction of the digital portal is not just a technological upgrade; but a transformative tool that addresses some of the most critical challenges in public procurement.

He explained that some of the challenges included the persistent bottlenecks, such as the suboptimal procurement practices, insufficiently skilled personnel, and the lack of institutionalized capacity-building frameworks.

“These challenges have long constrained the effective utilization of public resources and impeded broader economic development in the country,” he said.

He said it was a great honour for him to participate at the official launch of the digital platform developed under the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement, SPESSE, Programme, in collaboration with the World Bank.

“This event represents a major milestone in the ongoing transformation of Nigeria’s public procurement system, fully in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, especially its focus on strengthening governance structures to deliver public services more effectively, transparently, and accountably,” Idris said.

He commended the Director-General of the Bureau of BPP, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, “for his visionary leadership, unwavering dedication, and tireless efforts in pushing the frontiers of innovation within Nigeria’s procurement ecosystem.

“The launch of this certification portal is a testament to his bold commitment to deepening reforms and modernizing the nation’s procurement processes in line with global best practices.”

He said by offering structured certification programmes and digital access to training and evaluation, the portal empowers procurement professionals across ministries, departments, and agencies to operate with greater competence, consistency, and integrity.

He added that the digital portal ensures that the procurement officers are not just compliant, but qualified and globally competitive.

“As the Minister of Information and National Orientation, I must emphasize the importance of public awareness and stakeholder engagement in driving the success of this reform.

“The citizens of Nigeria must understand that this portal is not just a tool for government; it is a tool for them — to demand better services, to expect greater transparency, and to hold institutions accountable.

“I therefore urge all relevant agencies and public officers to fully embrace this initiative, and I call on the media, most especially, to help amplify its benefits and monitor its implementation,” he said.

The Minister acknowledged the strategic partnership and continued support of the World Bank, which he said, remained a dependable ally in our efforts to build a more accountable and efficient public sector.

In his remarks, the Director-General of BPP, Dr. Adebowale Adedokun, explained that the launch marked the beginning of consolidating on all the past efforts toward having an efficient and effective procurement regime in the country through a coordinated and strategic capacity building programme for procurement officers in the public and private sectors.

He said Nigeria is one of the top emerging economies with opportunities for massive infrastructure development as being seen already under the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The BPP boss, who has introduced many reforms to strengthen and curb corrupt practices in procurement process since he assumed office said to match the emerging scenario, other climes have restructured their procurement system to match the ever evolving technologies and processes while Nigeria has remained the same over 20 years now.

According to him: “We have approached public procurement traditionally meaning one cap capacity fits all. This has  placed us at a disadvantaged position against our competitors especially the contractors who constantly modified,  training and retrain their workforce.

“What we are doing today, has already been provided for in the Public Procurement Act, 2007 wherein BPP is to perform: Monitoring and oversight ,

harmonize government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards, benchmarks and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria and other related matters.

“Also, we are to organise training and development programmes for procurement professionals and coordinate relevant training to build institutional capacity.

“These responsibilities are enormous but we are determined to achieve value for development of our nation and its large teaming youth population.”

He said the gathering marked the actual take off of the consolidated approach to building capacity of Public and private procurement officers who are doing businesses with the federal government, adding that the new capacity building programme was aimed at building knowledge, mastery and skills of officers that will march the expectation of all stakeholders.

“We are already engaging professionals bodies to assist us in building sector based procurement expertise that will match that of the private sector. This will ultimately reduce subjectivity, turn around time, wastages, reduced poverty, enhance job opportunities for our graduates and much more export to other developing countries.

“The programme will be implemented in phases starting with graduates from the 6 CoEs, over 7000 procurement officers and from our colleagues from other African countries.”