The National Universities Commission on Wednesday signed additional $65m performance contracts with Vice-Chancellors of six participating universities under the World Bank-backed Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE).
The deal is aimed at strengthening procurement, environmental, and social governance standards nationwide. READ ALSO: UTME Exemption For NCE Candidates, Others Will Raise Tertiary Admissions To 1.5m – Alausa Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, said the additional financing phase marked “a new chapter” in efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity in procurement, environmental, and social standards.
“This phase marks not only a continuation of the initiative, but also a renewed opportunity to consolidate achievements, scale impacts, and deepen sustainability measures across the participating institutions,” Ribadu said. The ES explained that the SPESSE project was established to address shortages in skilled professionals in procurement, environmental, and social safeguards, as well as limited academic programmes in those fields within Nigerian universities.
He stated, “The project was conceived to address a critical gap in the Nigerian university system. “Insufficient supply of skilled professionals in procurement, environmental and social safeguards, as well as the limited availability of specialised academic programs in these fields.” According to him, six centres of excellence were established across the geopolitical zones under the coordination of the NUC and with support from the World Bank.
He said the centres, including those located at Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos State University, were helping to produce skilled manpower needed to support transparency, environmental responsibility, and socially inclusive development.