Nigeria is digitising procurement, but transparency remains uneven. However, having an e-procurement portal is not the same as having transparent procurement. One may ask themselves: what makes it difficult to publish procurement records in Nigeria? In the last three years, the e-procurement portal has been the lowest-ranked indicator of fiscal transparency in BudgIT’s States’ Fiscal Transparency League Table.
BudgIT’s States Fiscal Transparency League (SFTL) Initiative is designed to sustain the gains of the World Bank’s States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability Program (SFTAS) by tracking how well States continue to maintain fiscal transparency, accountability, accessibility, and effective public finance management even after the programme’s financial incentives have ended. An assessment of states’ e-procurement systems between 2023 and 2025 reveals that progress has been inconsistent.
Some states have made stronger progress in providing e-procurement platforms, including Adamawa, Ekiti, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Benue and Anambra. However, most states still struggle to provide procurement information through their portals consistently. At the same time, a few remain in the red zone, with no available portal or portals in constant maintenance mode.
