The National Universities Commission has signed an additional $65 million agreement with the World Bank under the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE) to strengthen Nigeria’s university system and train 24,000 more professionals.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the NUC headquarters in Abuja in the presence of representatives from participating universities, the World Bank and the Bureau of Public Procurement.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abdullahi Ribadu, said the new financing phase would consolidate achievements already recorded under the project since its launch in 2021.
He explained that the SPESSE initiative was introduced to address the shortage of skilled professionals in procurement, environmental and social governance, as well as the limited availability of specialised academic programmes in those areas.
Ribadu said six centres of excellence were established across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones, including at Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos State University, to implement the project with support from the World Bank.
According to him, the project has led to the development of postgraduate diplomas, master’s degree programmes, undergraduate courses and short-term professional training.
“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 said.
He added that investments had also been made in high-performance computing infrastructure, digital learning platforms, live-streaming facilities and learning management systems to strengthen teaching and research activities.
The NUC boss disclosed that some of the centres had begun attracting foreign students, while over 68 international partnerships had already been established under the initiative.
Ribadu further revealed that certification protocols for procurement, environmental and social standards were developed in 2025 by the Bureau of Public Procurement, the Federal Ministry of Environment and the Federal Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
He said three of the six centres had already commenced PhD programmes, while the remaining centres were expected to begin operations in the next academic session starting in July 2026.
According to him, the project targets the production of at least 60 PhD graduates, enrolment of 60 foreign students, facilitation of 18 staff internships and 60 international student exchange programmes.
He noted that the additional financing would focus more on sustainability, environmental standards and electronic procurement systems.
“The government intends to have all procurements in the future done electronically,” Ribadu said.
Also speaking, Ishtiak Siddique, described the SPESSE project as one of the World Bank’s most impactful interventions in Nigeria despite the institution’s broader $17 billion portfolio in the country.
He said more than 40,000 people had already been trained under the first phase of the project.
Siddique added that the new $65 million financing would support the training of another 24,000 people, especially personnel from key public institutions.
He explained that part of the funding would also support the rollout of an end-to-end electronic procurement system at the federal level before extending it to states.
According to him, the system would leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public procurement processes.
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Adebowale Adedokun, said over 2,700 officers had already been trained and certified under the initiative.
Adedokun added that the additional financing phase would also support online capacity-building programmes for small and medium-scale enterprises as well as public sector policymakers.
