World Bank’s $65m SPESSE fund to benefit 24,000 Nigerians — NUC

The National Universities Commission has disclosed that at least 24,000 Nigerians will benefit from a fresh $65 million funding phase of the World Bank-backed Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement project.

The Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abdullahi Ribadu, made this known on Wednesday during the signing of performance contracts for the additional SPESSE financing in Abuja.

According to Ribadu, the new funding phase builds on the success of the initial $80 million SPESSE project, which commenced in 2021.

He explained that the initiative was introduced to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity in procurement, environmental management and social standards across public and private institutions.

Ribadu said the project was addressing the shortage of skilled professionals in key governance and development sectors.

He noted that with support from the World Bank and coordination by the NUC, six centres of excellence were established across the country’s geopolitical zones to provide sustainable capacity development.

According to him, the participating universities emerged through a competitive selection process based on institutional readiness, quality assurance and sustainability criteria.

The NUC boss stated that the centres had already recorded milestones, including the development of specialised academic programmes ranging from short courses to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

He added that investments had also been made in digital learning infrastructure and research facilities, while three of the six centres had already commenced PhD programmes.

Ribadu disclosed that the commission targets at least 60 PhD graduates, admission of 60 foreign students and expanded exchange programmes under the new phase of the project.

Also speaking, Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Adebowale Adedokun, said the project had trained over 2,700 officers from the public and private sectors to improve procurement competence nationwide.

He explained that the next phase would support the rollout of Nigeria’s electronic procurement system and strengthen online training for policymakers and small businesses handling public funds.

The World Bank’s Task Team Leader for SPESSE, Ishtiak Siddique, said more than 40,000 participants had benefited from training under the original project, while over 4,000 had received certifications in procurement, environmental and social standards.

He added that the additional financing would focus on building capacity for federal, state and local government institutions to improve development outcomes.

Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Folasade Ogunsola, also reaffirmed the institution’s commitment to strengthening professional capacity development through the SPESSE framework.