December 2019
The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption (RoLAC) Programme is working to open up public procurement in Nigeria.
The Nigeria Open Contracting Portal is an online portal that seeks to increase the disclosure of procurement information to all stakeholders by improving transparency and accountability; preventing corruption; enhancing the active participation of citizens in procurement processes; and improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
The new portal was co-created by Nigeria's Bureau of Public Procurement and civil society. It enables government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to conduct their procurement processes online. The portal replaces a manual and paper-based system.
RoLAC supported the Bureau to train 1,080 procurement officers across 100 federal ministries, departments and agencies on how to use the portal to ensure effective service delivery.
The interactive training enabled participants to trial uploading procurement plans and records using computers and internet facilities at the Nigeria Open University.
At the end of the training, 10 MDAs successfully uploaded their procurement plans and records. Other MDAs are expected to complete their uploads before the end of the year, in readiness for implementation in 2020.
‘.... participants must take this training seriously because the bureau has upgraded from the usual way of doing things and it is no longer business as usual.'
'It is expected that at the end of the workshop, participants will be well-equipped and can prepare and submit procurement plans and records in line with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2007.'
Mamman Ahmadu, Director General, Bureau of Public Procurement
