Nigeria's NUC and World Bank sign $65 million agreement to improve university governance standards

The National Universities Commission (NUC) signed additional performance contracts worth $65 million with the Vice‑Chancellors of participating universities on Wednesday. The contracts are part of the World Bank‑backed Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project, which aims to improve procurement, environmental and social governance standards across Nigeria.

The signing ceremony took place in Abuja and was attended by officials from the NUC, the Bureau of Public Procurement, the World Bank, the participating universities and other stakeholders.

Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, Executive Secretary of the NUC, described the new financing phase as “a new chapter” in strengthening 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 created to address two critical gaps in Nigerian universities: a shortage of skilled professionals in procurement, environmental and social safeguards, and a limited supply of specialised academic programmes in these fields.

He noted that six centres of excellence have been established across the geopolitical zones under NUC coordination and with World Bank support.

These centres, including those at Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos State University, are producing the skilled manpower needed to promote 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 added.

Since the project became effective in 2021, it has achieved several milestones, such as developing curricula for 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 said some centres have begun enrolling foreign students and that more than 68 international partnerships have been forged.

“In 2025, certification protocols for all three thematic areas—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 explained.

Three of the six centres have already launched PhD programmes; the remaining three are slated to start in the next academic session, beginning in July 2026.

“I am proud to inform you that this has already been actualised, with the commencement of PhD programmes by three of the six centres, and the remaining three set to commence the next academic session commencing in July 2026,” Ribadu said.

Ribadu also outlined new targets for the additional financing phase.

“Across the project, we expect to see the production of at least 60 PhDs, the enrollment of no fewer than 60 foreign students, the facilitation of at least 18 staff internships, and the provision of no less than 60 student exchange programmes with foreign institutions,” he said.

The Gambia has already expressed interest in sending citizens to the centres.

“We already have an expression of interest from the Gambia to send some of their citizens to the centres, and I ask the vice chancellors to take advantage of this opportunity,” Ribadu said.

He noted that the project has enhanced capacity building, research infrastructure and internationalisation within universities.

Regarding the additional financing, Ribadu said it will deepen and expand the achievements of the first phase, focusing on specific areas of sustainability, environment and procurement rather than serving as a generic template.

He added that electronic procurement will become a major component of the programme.

“The government intends to have all procurements in the future to be done electronically. So all this will now be possible within this funding framework,” he stated.

Ishtiak Siddique, Task Team Leader of the SPESSE Project, said the World Bank regards the project as one of its most significant partnerships with Nigeria.

Siddique noted that the World Bank currently manages a $17 billion portfolio with Nigeria, but highlighted SPESSE as especially important.

“This particular project is very close to our heart because it actually cuts across all the sectors,” he said.

The team leader emphasized the importance of procurement, environmental and social standards in governance and public service delivery.

“If you want to do any development activities in the country, or any particular service from the government side you want to give to the citizen, you need to handle procurement, environment, and social sector,” Siddique explained.

The newly effective additional financing package amounts to $65 million and builds on the original $80 million SPESSE project.

“This additional financing, you have already heard that two weeks ago, the additional financing of $65 m has been effective. But it is built on the success of the original project that was $80 m original project of SPESSE,” he said.

More than 40 000 people have already been trained under the programme.

“More than 40 000 people have been trained already in these three standards, which is a big deal. It is not like that people will be trained, and then they will forget about their training, but no. They have to continuously nurture their skills, continuously learn, and that will be monitored through this certification programme,” Siddique said.

The additional financing phase aims to train at least another 24 000 people, particularly from critical public institutions.

“We are aiming even higher, an additional 24 000 people at least will be trained under the additional financing,” he said.

Siddique also announced plans to introduce an end‑to‑end electronic procurement system.

“On the procurement side, the additional financing includes implementation of an end‑to‑end full‑fledged electronic procurement system at the federal level initially, which will later be rolled out at the state level,” he stated.

The system will incorporate emerging technologies.

“The way it is being designed, it takes advantage of all the new technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the public procurement,” Siddique said.

Adebowale Adedokun, Director‑General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, said the bureau remains committed to ensuring that procurement officers are both academically and professionally competent.

“As this project moves into this additional financing period, the Bureau is committed, and together with other stakeholders, will ensure we produce both procurement officers who are both academically and professionally competent, thereby supporting the national sustainable development program of our country,” Adedokun said.

The DG disclosed that more than 2 700 officers have already been trained under the project.

“This project has so far trained and certified over 2 700 officers from these various sectors of excellence and indeed from various private sectors, drawn from their MDAs at the federal, state, and local governments,” he said.

The additional financing phase will also support the deployment of the government’s electronic procurement system.

“In this additional financing stage, we will support the development and deployment of the government’s electronic procurement system. It will also support online capacity building for small and medium‑scale enterprises, as well as all policymakers who are dealing with public funds,” Adedokun added.

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