…says digital system, stricter controls blocking leakages
By John Alechenu
ABUJA — The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has disclosed that its procurement reforms, benchmarking and tighter controls saved the Federal Government about N1.5 trillion between 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Director-General of the Bureau, Dr Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the launch of Advocates for the Promotion of Transparent Procurement Initiatives (APTPI).
The event was themed, “Promoting Transparency, Value for Money and Accountability in Public Procurement.”
Adedokun said the Bureau saved N1.1 trillion in the first 11 months of 2025 and a further N400 billion in the first six months of 2026.
According to him, the savings represented funds that would otherwise have been lost from government coffers but were retained through policy changes, benchmarking and stricter controls.
He noted that the N1.1 trillion saved in 11 months was significant compared with the N2.2 trillion saved through government procurement between 2007 and 2025.
The BPP boss said: “We needed to adjust our policies; we needed to adjust what we’re doing. In 11 months, take N1.1 trillion out of the N2.2 trillion in 20 years. That’s significant.”
Giving an update on 2026, Adedokun said: “Between just the first half of this year, if I’m correct, I’ve already clocked close to N400 billion in what would have been lost, as a result of benchmarking and putting the right stoppers in naira, in dollars and in euros.”
He said the reforms were being driven by digitalisation, noting that the BPP no longer accepted manual submissions.
“Already today, nobody sends documents to BPP manually anymore. We won’t accept it. So this can be done anywhere now and submitted virtually. So this is reducing the opportunity for people to manipulate the processes as we continue,” he said.
The DG also said the Bureau was discouraging the use of selective tendering, stressing that procuring entities would face greater scrutiny before obtaining approval for such procedures.
“People now know that selective tendering is going down. I mean, now you’ll suffer well for me to give you approval for selective tendering.
“During the period it will take us to give you selective tendering, you better advertise. That’s the dimension we are going,” he said.
Adedokun challenged civil society organisations to extend their scrutiny to state governments, noting that a significant proportion of public funds was controlled at the sub-national level.
“Have you thought about states? You know, states are taking loans… the bulk of the money is at the sub-national level. If you are borrowing money from the World Bank, what procurement processes are you adopting? Who is guaranteeing the loan? Federal Government,” he queried.
He said collaboration with civil society organisations and development partners had contributed to the progress recorded by the Bureau.
In its statement at the launch, APTPI said the N68.3 trillion 2026 budget, with N32.2 trillion earmarked for capital expenditure, made procurement governance critical.
“Public procurement is where policy meets implementation. When procurement works, public resources create development.
“When procurement fails, resources can be lost through inflated prices, poor planning, weak competition… The consequences are ultimately borne by citizens,” the group said.
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