Nigeria’s Procurement Process Riddled With Corruption — ICPC

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has identified the procurement process as one of the areas where corrupt practices are mostly perpetrated in Nigeria.

The anti-graft agency noted that issues such as inflated contracts, substandard project delivery, ghost projects, and abandoned contracts are some of the issues associated with procurement.

Speaking at a one-day procurement engagement workshop in Abuja for directors and heads of procurement across ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), chairman of the ICPC, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, emphasised the strategic importance of procurement officers in safeguarding public funds and ensuring that government projects translate into tangible benefits for citizens.

Public procurement is the single largest channel of public expenditure and, unfortunately, the highest point of corruption risk,” he said, highlighting recurring issues such as contract inflation, splitting of contracts to evade thresholds, substandard project delivery, repeated budget entries, and abandoned projects.

Represented by the secretary to the commission, Mr. Clifford Oparaodu, the ICPC boss noted the commission’s Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI), which has, since 2019, uncovered ghost projects, duplicated budget items, and cases where contractors collected funds but delivered work far below specification

According to him, “We have tracked projects from inception to completion across the six geopolitical zones and the FCT. These findings confirm that transparency directly improves citizens’ lives.”