NUC secures $65m World Bank funding to upgrade universities, train 24,000 Nigerians
The National Universities Commission has secured an additional $65 million funding package from the World Bank under the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE), aimed at strengthening professional capacity and governance standards across Nigerian universities.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the NUC headquarters in Abuja in the presence of representatives from participating universities, the World Bank, and the Bureau of Public Procurement.
The SPESSE initiative was launched in 2021 with an initial $80 million World Bank facility designed to improve Nigeria’s expertise in procurement, environmental management, and social standards through specialised university-based training programmes.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Executive Secretary of the NUC, Abdullahi Ribadu, described the additional financing as a major step toward consolidating gains already recorded under the project.
“This additional financing 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 told Punch newspaper.
According to him, the initiative was established to address the shortage of skilled professionals in procurement, environmental safeguards, and social governance.
“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 programmes in these fields,” he said.
Ribadu explained that six centres of excellence were established across Nigeria’s geopolitical zones under the supervision of the NUC and with support from the World Bank. The centres are hosted by institutions including Ahmadu Bello University and Lagos State University.
