IMPACT OF CORRUPTION ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCESSES
Muhammad Nasir Adamu
Jul 2026· International Journal of Environmental Design and Construction Management· 0 citations
Abstract
This paper discussed on impact of corruption on public procurement processes. Corruption within public procurement has persistently posed a major obstacle to good governance and socio- economic development in Nigeria. As a critical mechanism for delivering goods, services, and infrastructure to the populace, public procurement is intended to ensure efficiency, transparency, and accountability; however, corrupt practices undermine these objectives. This study explored the nature and effects of corruption on public procurement in Nigeria, examining how such practices compromise service delivery and weaken institutional credibility. A historical research design was employed, utilizing secondary sources such as government reports, policy documents, scholarly articles, and textbooks to trace patterns of procurement-related corruption and identify systemic weaknesses over time. The study was guided by Public Accountability Theory, which asserts that public officials and institutions are obliged to be answerable for their decisions, actions, and management of public resources. This framework offers insight into how accountability mechanisms can curb or mitigate corrupt practices in procurement processes. Findings indicated that corruption in Nigeria’s public procurement is driven by weak institutional oversight, political interference, inadequate transparency, and limited enforcement of regulations. These conditions result in inflated contracts, misappropriation of funds, incomplete projects, and diminished public trust. Global experiences underscore the importance of strong monitoring systems, performance-based accountability, and active citizen participation in promoting transparency and improving procurement outcomes. The study concluded that tackling corruption in public procurement requires a combination of legal reforms, institutional strengthening, digital innovations, and active citizen engagement. The study recommended, among others, that the Nigerian government should strengthen oversight institutions by fully constituting the Procurement Councils at the federal and state levels and empowering them to monitor procurement activities, detect irregularities, and sanction offenders consistently.
Public procurement affects the transparency, accountability, efficiency of public institutions, competition and effectiveness of public resources, and is therefore an important dimension of public-sector governance. In the last 20 years, Pakistan has taken several steps towards reform in Procurement by introducing the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) in 2002 and the Public Procurement Rules in 2004. Even with these reforms, issues of implementation gaps, institutional capacity, compliance, monitoring, and effectiveness of governance mechanisms persist. This research paper will discuss the trends in public procurement reforms of Pakistan and its effect on public governance and institutional performance in Pakistan. The study uses a qualitative policy analysis design, through systematic analysis of documents/sources of secondary data, such as laws, procurement rules, policy documents, institutional reports, audit reports and relevant literature of scholars. The results have shown that Pakistan has achieved significant progress in the development of a formal procurement regulatory framework, in enhancing transparency and accountability in procurement, in improving the professionalism of procurement functions and in introducing digital procurement by electronic systems. The analysis also reveals, however, that a number of shortcomings exist between formal policy provisions and institutional implementation. The capacity of institutions, compliance, monitoring and coordination difficulties, as well as the adaptation to technological reforms remain constraining the performance of procurement. The study findings suggest that the success of future reform of public procurement will depend less on adding more regulations and more on ensuring greater institutional capacity, professional skills, monitoring, enforcement, digital infrastructure, and accountability. The study advances the literature on reforms in public procurement by emphasizing the need to view the process of public procurement reform not as a regulatory process, but as an institutional and governance transformation process.
Corruption remains a major challenge to democratic governance, sustainable development, and effective public administration in Nigeria. Despite the establishment of anti-corruption institutions, practices such as bribery, embezzlement, abuse of office, procurement fraud, and illicit financial activities continue to undermine public trust and weaken state institutions. This study evaluated the role of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in implementing anti-corruption policies and promoting democratic governance in Nigeria. Specifically, it examined the Commission’s effectiveness in preventing corruption, enforcing anti-corruption laws, promoting accountability, and strengthening institutional integrity. The study adopted a qualitative research design based on documentary analysis of secondary data drawn from ICPC annual reports, government publications, and policy documents, reports of international organizations, scholarly literature, and credible media sources. Institutional Theory provides the analytical framework, highlighting the importance of institutional capacity, political commitment, legal frameworks, and administrative independence in determining the performance of anti-corruption agencies. The findings show that the ICPC has made notable contributions through corruption prevention programmes, system reviews of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), constituency and executive project monitoring, public education campaigns, asset recovery, and the prosecution of corruption-related offences. However, its effectiveness continues to be constrained by inadequate funding, political interference, judicial delays, weak inter-agency collaboration, limited prosecutorial capacity, and low conviction rates in high-profile cases. While anti-corruption policies have improved transparency and accountability in some areas, their overall impact on democratic governance has been limited by entrenched corruption, weak institutions, and inconsistent political commitment. The study concludes that achieving effective democratic governance requires not only strong anti-corruption institutions but also institutional independence, efficient law enforcement, judicial reform, transparent public financial management, active citizen participation, and sustained political will. It recommends strengthening the operational autonomy, financial capacity, investigative capability, and accountability of the ICPC, alongside closer collaboration with other anti-corruption agencies and civil society organizations.
Emmanuel Letsuwa, Segun Oshewolo· International Journal of Bus...· 4 citations
Corruption remains a major concern in infrastructure procurement because it can affect public resources and project delivery. This study examines the barriers that affect the effective implementation of anti-corruption mechanisms (ACMS) in infrastructure procurement in Pakistan. Using qualitative evidence from 34 semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a doctoral research study on corruption in infrastructure procurement in Pakistan, the study explores the views of professionals involved in infrastructure procurement and project delivery. The participants included project managers, procurement professionals, consultants, contract managers and quality-assurance personnel with relevant infrastructure experience. The findings show that the effectiveness of ACMS is affected by several connected barriers. These barriers are mainly related to regulatory weaknesses, institutional limitations, procedural problems, political influence and behavioral factors. The study found that unclear or inconsistent rules, weak monitoring, limited institutional independence, weaknesses in complaint and reporting systems, political interference, fear of retaliation and limited knowledge can reduce the practical effectiveness of existing mechanisms. The findings also show that these barriers do not work separately. They can reinforce one another and create an implementation gap between the formal existence of anti-corruption mechanisms and their actual use in infrastructure procurement. For example, a reporting mechanism may exist formally, but its effectiveness can remain limited when employees do not trust the system, fear negative consequences or believe that complaints will not lead to appropriate action. The study contributes to understanding corruption in infrastructure procurement by bringing together barriers that limit ACMS implementation in Pakistan. It also highlights the importance of looking beyond formal rules and considering whether organizations have the independence, resources and capacity needed to apply them effectively. The findings have practical implications for procurement organizations, project managers and regulatory bodies. They suggest that improving anti-corruption performance requires clearer procedures, stronger monitoring, more independent institutions, better reporting arrangements, appropriate use of technology and greater protection for people who report wrongdoing.
Unknown authors· International journal of res...· 0 citations
Public procurement is widely recognized as a sensitive and high-risk area for corruption and inefficiency, often affected by opacity and weak accountability. In Nepal, the introduction of the electronic government procurement (e-GP) system signifies a major digital governance reform aimed at enhancing transparency and procedural integrity. This study examines the impact of e GP on transparency in public procurement, focusing on information accessibility, process visibility, fair competition, and stakeholder trust. The analysis is based on survey data from 84 stakeholders, including government officials, bidders, and oversight personnel. Quantitative techniques, including Friedman Chi-square tests and ANOVA, were employed to assess perceived transparency outcomes. The findings indicate that e-GP has improved access to procurement information and strengthened procedural openness; however, challenges persist in traceability and stakeholder engagement, particularly during bidding and contract award stages. The study highlights that technological reforms alone are insufficient without complementary institutional strengthening.
The study examined the determinants and impact of corruption on public service delivery in Lafia,
Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two specific objectives were raised; to identify the determinants of
corruption and analyse the impact of corruption on public service delivery in Lafia Local
Government. The descriptive survey design was employed and 374 elected officials and senior
administrative personnel were selected from 5,933 workers in the council area as sample for the
study. A self-structured questionnaire with 21 items and a reliability estimate of 0.06 was used for
data collection. The data collected were analysed with descriptive statistics and the results
presented in tables. Findings revealed that lack of transparency, weak institutional frameworks,
political interference, low salaries of officials, and poor enforcement of anti-corruption laws as
responsible for high corruption cases. It was also found that corrupt practices have contributed to
delays in service delivery, use of substandard materials in public projects, abandonment of
projects, increased costs of services, and inequality in access to services. The study recommended
that the government should strengthen institutional services to adopt open governance practices,
such as publishing budgets, project costs, and implementation reports for the public to access.
James Mosimabale Omolaiye· JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE...· 0 citations
Corruption remains a major challenge to democratic governance, sustainable development, and effective
public administration in Nigeria. Despite the establishment of anti-corruption institutions, practices such
as bribery, embezzlement, abuse of office, procurement fraud, and illicit financial activities continue to
undermine public trust and weaken state institutions. This study evaluated the role of the Independent
Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in implementing anti-corruption
policies and promoting democratic governance in Nigeria. Specifically, it examined the Commission’s
effectiveness in preventing corruption, enforcing anti-corruption laws, promoting accountability, and
strengthening institutional integrity. The study adopted a qualitative research design based on documentary
analysis of secondary data drawn from ICPC annual reports, government publications, and policy
documents, reports of international organizations, scholarly literature, and credible media sources.
Institutional Theory provides the analytical framework, highlighting the importance of institutional
capacity, political commitment, legal frameworks, and administrative independence in determining the
performance of anti-corruption agencies. The findings show that the ICPC has made notable contributions
through corruption prevention programmes, system reviews of Ministries, Departments and Agencies
(MDAs), constituency and executive project monitoring, public education campaigns, asset recovery, and
the prosecution of corruption-related offences. However, its effectiveness continues to be constrained by
inadequate funding, political interference, judicial delays, weak inter-agency collaboration, limited
prosecutorial capacity, and low conviction rates in high-profile cases. While anti-corruption policies have
improved transparency and accountability in some areas, their overall impact on democratic governance
has been limited by entrenched corruption, weak institutions, and inconsistent political commitment. The
study concludes that achieving effective democratic governance requires not only strong anti-corruption
institutions but also institutional independence, efficient law enforcement, judicial reform, transparent
public financial management, active citizen participation, and sustained political will. It recommends
strengthening the operational autonomy, financial capacity, investigative capability, and accountability of
the ICPC, alongside closer collaboration with other anti-corruption agencies and civil society
organizations.
Emmanuel Letsuwa, Phillip Terzungwe Vande, Dr. Segun Oshewolo· International Journal of Bus...· 0 citations
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