By Danladi Ahmed
The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG has attributed the huge infrastructural strides of the President Bola Tinubu administration on its ongoing procurement reforms.
This emerged after Vice President Kashim Shettima revealed that the reforms introduced by the federal government has saved the country more than N1.1 trillion in 2025.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, TMSG asserted that the administration’s procurement reforms also made the process of contract awards faster and less cumbersome easing the burden of doing business in line with global best practices.
It said: “The Public Procurement Act was signed into law in June 2007 by the late President Umaru Yar Adua to formalise due process in federal government’s procurement process but over the years, there have been some agitation for reforms because of the delay in completion of projects as a result of the slow pace of procurement process.
“So it was not surprising that the President Bola Tinubu administration embarked on a major comprehensive reform of the Procurement framework in 2024 to decentralise the process and also enforce accountability in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
“It later emerged from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that no fewer than 23 procurement reforms were introduced by the Tinubu administration within a year.
“Also, it is worth noting that rather than sustain the practice of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) being a one-stop shop for all federal government contract awards, the Tinubu administration made it possible for individual cabinet members and their tender boards to award big contracts once the necessary conditions are met.
“Consequently, contracts below N5 billion for goods and services and N10 billion for works are being handled by ministerial tender boards instead of the Federal Executive Council.
“We dare say that this is one of the reasons Nigerians no longer see FEC strictly as a weekly contract awarding body.”
The group also gave insight into some of the reforms introduced by the President Tinubu administration into the public procurement process.
“Some of the major indicators of the Tinubu reform in the procurement process are shorter contract approval timelines, digital submission of procurement plans, and more stringent sanctions on contractors and erring government officials.
“There is also the Nigeria First policy, introduced by the administration through an Executive Order which prioritises preference for locally produced goods and services as well as local contractors.
“It is against this backdrop that we situate the N1.1 trillion savings from the procurement reforms and from the data at our disposal, the figure is larger than the cumulative savings from the procurement process in 17 years (2007 to 2024).
“And lest we forget, every naira saved translates to every naira earned which would be available for the construction or rehabilitation of more roads, provisions of more schools and deployment into agricultural intervention programmes, amongst others,” it said.
The group commended the Director General of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Dr Adebowale Adedokun for delivering on the mandate handed him on assuming office and urged him to continually ensure full compliance with the Bola Tinibu administration’s procurement reform framework.