The Federal Government has warned heads of ministries, agencies, and government-owned institutions against inflating contract costs or violating public procurement regulations, threatening sanctions for offenders.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, gave the warning in a circular directing all publicly funded federal institutions to comply strictly with the Public Procurement Act, 2007, as amended by the Finance Act, 2020.
Akume expressed concern that some government-owned enterprises and corporations continued to award contracts without following the provisions of the law, resulting in inflated contract prices, restricted competition, and weak regulatory oversight.
He said the government would no longer tolerate such violations and directed all affected institutions, including government-owned companies, councils, authorities, and commissions, to align their procurement activities with the Act.
The SGF also instructed heads of the institutions, who serve as accounting officers, to liaise with the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) for guidance.
He warned that accounting officers who continued to award contracts outside the provisions of the law would face sanctions.
The circular stated that the directive was aimed at strengthening transparency, accountability, and value for money in the management of public funds.
The warning comes amid broader efforts by the government to curb procurement irregularities and reduce inflated contract costs.
In May 2026, the BPP introduced stricter guidelines requiring government agencies to obtain its certification before processing contract variations, scope modifications, and additional cost claims.
The guidelines also require all variation requests to undergo BPP review, regardless of their financial value, replacing the previous framework that required presidential approval for variations exceeding 15 percent of the original contract sum or N1bn.
In August 2026, the BPP Director-General, Adebowale Adedokun, disclosed that the bureau had helped the Federal Government save about N1.4tn in 18 months through price intelligence and benchmarking initiatives designed to detect inflated project costs.
The Public Procurement Act established the BPP as the regulatory authority responsible for setting standards, monitoring procurement activities, and promoting transparency and competition in public contracting.
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