The MacArthur Foundation has said that a staggering sum of over $200 billion is estimated to have been lost in Nigeria between 1970 and 2008 due to widespread corruption and procurement irregularities.

According to the Foundation, the massive financial haemorrhage occurred through various channels, including inflated contracts, dubious asset disposals, and outright theft of resources, reports The Guardian.

Deputy Director for Nigeria at the MacArthur Foundation, Amina Salihu, made the revelation in Abuja yesterday at a high-level town hall meeting to commemorate the 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day.

The Guardian reports that the meeting, aimed at addressing systemic challenges in Nigeria’s public procurement processes, was organized by Accountability Lab Nigeria in partnership with the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The event, themed “Tackling Procurement Fraud and Its Far-Reaching Consequences: A Collective Responsibility,” brought together government officials, civil society organisations, private sector representatives, and international development partners.

Salihu underscored the importance of ensuring transparency, competition, and integrity in the country’s procurement processes.

She said, “So it seems our work is never going to be done because that is a potential area where we can meet the needs of citizens. It is also the potential area where our country, and also our continent, is haemorrhaging our lifeblood because these resources actually are life’s work, and it’s our lifeblood.

“And you know, whenever you look up these things, you get all kinds of different statistics that trouble you. Between 1970 and 2008, over $200 billion was lost in Nigeria through procurement, through inflated contracts, through asset disposals that are not very straightforward, through resources that have been hidden under the table.”

She stressed the need for effective regulation and oversight to prevent corruption and ensure that resources are allocated efficiently.

She also acknowledged the importance of collaboration between government, civil society, and the private sector to promote transparency and accountability.

According to her, corruption in Nigeria’s procurement process has severe consequences, including the diversion of resources meant for essential public services.

On his part, the Country Director of Accountability Lab, Friday Odeh, lamented that Nigeria’s public service is plagued by a significant lack of accountability.

He noted that this accountability gap has led to rampant abuse of procurement processes and blatant misuse of public resources, resulting in substantial financial and temporal losses for the country.

He said the absence of accountability enables corruption, allowing public officials to exploit resources for personal gain rather than serving the nation’s best interests.

“Currently, public procurement processes are carried out without transparency, such as unpublished procurement information, which leaves citizens in the dark about how decisions are made and deprives them of the chance to track the progress of projects,” he said.

The UNODC Representative, Maximilian Menhard, said the International Anti-Corruption Day offers a crucial opportunity to raise awareness about procurement fraud, commit to integrity in public procurements, and agree on relevant follow-up actions.

He said: “Corruption In public procurement has profoundly negative impacts on government spending, undermining market competition, and impeding economic and sustainable development. It leads to governments paying inflated prices, often resulting in substandard goods and services, a lack of accountability, and an erosion of public trust.

“A procurement system lacking transparency, competition, and integrity is fertile ground for corrupt behaviour, and while implementing a public procurement system based on these principles can be challenging.”

Lucy Abagi, CEO of the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), revealed that a recent report by her organisation exposed significant transparency gaps in Nigeria’s public procurement processes.

The report found that over 56% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for procurement information went unresponded to, highlighting the challenges citizens face in accessing such data.

She said this lack of transparency undermines accountability and trust in government, enabling corruption and inefficiency to persist.