The World Bank-sponsored Sustainable Procurement Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project team last Thursday, 4th December, 2025, briefed the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FCVSN, on the progress recorded on the programme in the past one year.
Leading the pack, the National Project Coordinator and NUC Acting Director, Special Projects, Dr. Joshua Atah informed the Executive Secretary that the programmes have gone through all NUCs modalities with the identification of five tracks of courses targeted at producing Masters, Postgraduate diplomas, undergraduate degrees as well as advanced certificate programmes.
He said that these programmes have been subjected to review and approved by the NUC, while the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have been duly informed as statutorily required.
He said currently the SPESSE programme has students in some universities already in their third years, who were enrolled from the core 100 level entry stage, stressing that hopefully in another one or two years, the nation would start seeing graduates with certificates in these specialized areas knocking at NYSC doors.
Dr. Atah said in anticipation of these degrees being churned out, the project team was looking at working with the Head of Service (HoS) to acknowledge and grade them in the Public Service Cadre.
He noted that Procurement Cadres already exist but for would-soon emerge Environmental and Social Standards Officers, there may be existing Cadres they could fit into.
The Project Coordinator stated that they are currently discussing with the National Council for Establishment, with the expectation that the certificates acquired can actually take the holders into career path all through their life in Public Sector.
He added that the private sector is heavily involved in the programme model by sponsoring internship and field visits of students as well as participating in training their staff on various procurement and social standards programmes, especially those of them in areas of road construction.
The NUC Acting Director, Special Projects pointed out that there are social issues around construction which affects communities, farm lands and riverine areas which the programme is helping to address.
He informed the Executive Secretary that since a week now, the World Bank has met with the various universities where they made presentations on progress made, with the final wrap up meeting expected to hold with the Federal Ministry of Finance in the coming days.
In his own presentation, World Bank Task Team Leader of SPESSE, Mr. Bhtiah Siddique thanked the Executive Secretary for making out time despite his tight schedule to listen to them which, he alluded, shows his commitment to the success of the project.
He said changing people’s mindset is more difficult than building roads and bridges, reiterating that in the last one week, the team went through a review of the whole project and was delighted at the progress made so far.
He disclosed that there are a total of 18 target areas in the project with 12 target areas sustained and exceeded, while five out of the remaining target areas were still ongoing, with only one target area slightly missing out which is the postgraduate diploma category, the reason he said, most candidates choose the Master’s degree over it.
Mr. Siddique said the World Bank has approved additional $65m for financing the project since June this year and was waiting for the Nigerian government to approve its own obligation to the project at the next Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
He promised that additional funding will continue to be made available up to June 2029, while they are also working on a model where universities can continue the project after its life cycle.
He commended the NUC for showing the pathway and declared that his impression of the project is one in a very good shape and expressed enthusiasm of seeing the project move to the next level.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FCVSN, expressed his elation on the significant level of progress attained with the SPESSE project.
He noted that having carefully heard the report, it was only in one area they are not able to achieve the targeted 100%, acknowledging that the programme does not involve any physical construction, but only for the people to construct their mindset.
He also applauded the fact that the private sector is actively involved in driving the process and for the training programmes which cuts across all sectors of the society.
At the meeting were members of the NUC Management team, some Vice-Chancellors and Centre Lea