Revolutionizing Public Procurement Practice in Nigeria: Assessing the Impact of Word Bank’s Country Procurement Assessment Report 2000

Abstract

Systemic corruption, misappropriation, and massive wastages of limited public financial resources historically characterized Nigeria’s public procurement practice and system. Consequently, with the restoration of democratic rule in the country in 1999, the President Obasanjo-led government commissioned the World Bank to evaluate the nation’s public procurement system in 2000. The end result of the exercise was the Country’s Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR), which indicated that Nigeria had lost several hundreds of billions of Naira over the years owing to fragrant abuse of procurement procedures, and hence needed to reform her procurement system. By way of implementing the recommendations of the CPAR, Nigeria executed reforms in her procurement system between 2001and 2007. This study argues that the reforms were significant and revolutionary in that they transformed the country’s procurement policy environment and brought about dramatic innovations in the system. Relying on data derived through the secondary method, as well as the descriptive method of qualitative data analysis, this study advances its position by examining the impacts of the CPAR stimulated reforms on Nigeria’s procurement policy and practice, as well as recommends measures for sustaining and consolidating on the gains of the reforms in order to facilitate the attainment of the nation’s development objectives.