FG Bans Unapproved Contract Variations — BPP Issues Anti-Corruption Procurement Rules

Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Procurement has issued new rules that close what officials call a long-running backdoor for inflating government contracts. Anyone who bypasses the process now risks losing their job and their contracts.

The BPP released its new Guidelines on Contract Variations on May 16, 2026, putting all federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies on notice: no variation to a public contract will be valid unless the Bureau first certifies it. That certificate, called a Certificate of No Objection, is now a hard requirement before any variation request goes to the relevant approving authority.

What Changed

The old rules dated to 2013. Under them, presidential approval was required only when contract variations exceeded 15 per cent of the original contract value or crossed the ₦1 billion threshold. Everything below that was largely self-regulated by individual MDAs, and widely abused.

The new framework scraps that and centralises oversight. Every variation order, every fluctuation claim, every scope modification, big or small, now passes through the BPP first. “No variation or fluctuation claim shall proceed to the relevant Approving Authority without a BPP Certificate of No Objection,” the bureau’s statement reads.

BPP Director-General Adebowale Adedokun made the intent plain: “Variations must not become a backdoor for cost inflation and scope creep. These guidelines ensure that every adjustment to a public contract is necessary, justified, and delivers value to Nigerians.”

What’s Actually Allowed

The guidelines do not ban contract variations outright. They define what qualifies. Variations will only be approved where they are genuinely necessary, could not have been foreseen with reasonable diligence, and do not fundamentally alter the original scope of the contract.

Acceptable grounds include unforeseen site conditions, material errors in design documents, statutory or regulatory changes after contract signing, significant price escalation caused by macroeconomic shocks or force majeure, and value-engineering improvements.

Unit rates for varied works must match the original contract rates. The BPP certificate, once issued, is valid for just six months. After that, a fresh application is required.

Consequences for Non-Compliance

The bureau didn’t leave enforcement vague. Variations processed without BPP certification “will attract sanctions under the PPA 2007, including suspension of officers and debarment of contractors.” Debarment shuts a contractor out of federal procurement entirely.

The policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council and communicated through an SGF circular in December 2025. The May 16 guidelines implement that approval, citing Sections 5(a) and (o) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 as the legal basis.

Why It Matters

Contract variations have been one of the most consistent channels for leakage in Nigeria’s public procurement system. Projects routinely exceed their original budgets by two or three times, with variation orders used to legitimise costs that were never budgeted. The BPP is betting that a mandatory certification layer — with real sanctions — changes that calculation for MDAs and their contractors.

How rigorously the rules will be enforced is the real question. Nigerian procurement reform has a long history of well-designed policies meeting weak implementation. The 2013 guidelines that these rules replace were themselves considered progressive at the time.

Sources: Punch, The Nation, The Sun