Political Influence and Public Procurement Governance in Nigeria: Implications for Transparency, Accountability, and Service Delivery Across the Three Tiers of Government

Abstract

Public procurement is an integral part of the public financial management and plays a pivotal role in achieving socio-economic development, better service delivery and infrastructure development. It is a process in which government bodies contract for goods, works and services needed to implement public policies and development programmes. Public procurement is one of the most significant functions of government administration in Nigeria, representing a significant amount of public funds spent at the federal, state and local level across all spheres. Procurement systems are expected to be transparent, accountable, competitive, fair, efficient and value for money in such a huge financial transaction. In Nigeria, the fight against political interference, which has been an anathema to the success and integrity of procurement process, is still ongoing despite all the procurement reforms that have taken place and the passage of the Public Procurement Act 2007. In this paper, the effect of political involvement in public procurement at the three tiers of government in Nigeria is discussed. Specifically, it looks at the degree to which the political dimension affects the procurement planning and budgeting, tendering, bid evaluation, contract award, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The study builds on the basis that public utility and developmental priorities are not necessarily the criteria that are considered in the procurement decision and that it is not always based on the political interests, the so called "patronage" or election calculations. The study adopted a qualitative research method, which relies on the review of literature, government reports, procurement regulations, policy documents and empirical evidence from procurement practices in the public sector in Nigeria. The results show that political interference can take many forms such as political patronage, favoritism in contract awarding, politicizing procurement committees, preferential tendering of contracts, contract inflation, and public contracts as political instruments of reward and campaign financing. The federal level often has a strong influence on procurement processes through political agendas and elite networks, which lead to high costs of projects, low accountability and poor project results. The dominance of the executive at the national level often influences procurement priorities and contracts awarded, and at the local government level, poor institutional capacity and political control allows for nepotism, favouritism, and financial mismanagement. Such practices lead to lack of competitiveness, transparency, defect qualified contractors and impact on the trust in government institutions. The research also finds that there is a significant link between politicization of procurement and corruption, drop-out of projects, poor quality infrastructure, delayed project delivery, and inefficient use of public resources. This not only undermines economic growth but also hampers the governments' ability to deliver basic services and to meet sustainable development goals. Political influence in procurement has thus emerged as a significant governance issue, with consequences for both accountability and institutional effectiveness and the trust of the public. The paper concludes that while procurement reforms have enhanced the legal and institutional framework of public procurement in Nigeria, the effectiveness of the reforms is limited by the political influence and poor enforcement of the laws. The study suggests to address these challenges, there is a need to strengthen the independence of procurement regulatory institutions, broaden the use of e-procurement systems, implement stringent penalties for procurement abuses, improve the capacities of procurement professionals and increase the involvement of civil society organizations, the media and citizens in monitoring procurement processes. These are critical to ensure better procurement governance, value for money with public expenditure, and better public procurement's contribution to sustainable economic growth and national development in Nigeria.