By Yvonne Orekyeh
The World Bank has appointed a new Task Team Lead (TTL) for the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project, Mr Ikechukwu Nweje, a Senior Public Sector Specialist with the World Bank. Mr Nweje takes over from Dr Daniel Rikichi Kajang (co-TTL, Procurement) and will be supported by other co-TTLs, Michael Ilesanmi (Social Standards), and Ruxandra Maria Floroiu (Environmental Standards). The announcement was made during the one-day technical support meeting for the SPESSE Project which was held recently at the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The meeting was aimed at assessing project implementation and identifying challenges with a view to proffering solutions to them ahead of the project’s mid-term review, billed to come up in November 2023.
As part of the event, a delegation comprising the new and immediate past TTLs, and representatives of the six Centres of Excellence and the Implementing Agencies (IAs) under the SPESSE Project, paid a courtesy visit to the Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Mr Chris J. Maiyaki, in the Executive Secretary’s office.
The Acting Executive Secretary welcomed the new TTL, and congratulated the World Bank, the NUC Project Implementation Unit (NUC-PIU) and the entire project team for sustaining the tempo of implementation and for the successes recorded on the SPESSE Project. He noted that SPESSE offers rare skills to bridge identified gaps in capacity in Procurement, Environmental Standards, and Social Standards in Nigeria and that it is heartwarming to see it grow in leaps and bounds.
The Acting ES expressed delight at seeing Nigerians and other Africans filling positions as TTLs, which in the not-too-distant past were held mainly by Europeans. He applauded the opportunity which these appointments presents to incorporate local content, taking into consideration the challenges of the continent, its context, urgency and dynamics.
The Acting ES assured the delegation of the support of the NUC management. He stated that the Commission is an equal stakeholder in the SPESSE Project and would ensure that the loan taken by the Nigerian government for the project would be justified. NUC must be seen as reputable drivers of the project, he said, and expressed optimism at the success of the mission.
The new TTL noted that his appointment was to strengthen the existing project team and not necessarily to re-invent the wheel. He noted that the SPESSE Project was behind on implementation, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and noted the need to fast-track the project to maximise its benefits.
Mr Nweje stated that a major expectation of Bank projects is the improvement of the lives of members of the host community which is why projects are thoroughly scrutinised before approval by the World Bank. He said that there were a lot of opportunities to be derived from SPESSE, and encouraged all stakeholders to take advantage of the project to develop themselves.
The TTL noted that almost all the co-TTLs for SPESSE were Nigerian and acknowledged that Bank projects were flexible in incorporating local content only if properly harnessed. He added that although the Bank would provide support to the project, it was essential to successful implementation for the nation to take ownership of the project and for all stakeholders to be collectively responsible for its success.
Representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mr xxxx, informed the meeting of the dearth of funds for project implementation and advised that available resources be judiciously utilised. He stated that the feedback on the SPESSE Project was positive, therefore the Ministry would continue to support the project to ensure that funds were not exhausted before project objectives were met. Although he said that the Ministry was open to project extension, he urged the project teams to expedite implementation to make up for lost time. Encouraging the project team to view the experience as a learning curve, he expressed optimism that the next mission would review project successes rather than challenges.
The technical support meeting was attended by project team members from the six participating universities, three IAs (Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, and the Bureau of Public Procurement), as well as the Independent National Facilitation Unit (NUC). Presentations were made by the Centres and IAs, highlighting their activities, achievements, challenges, prospects, and sustainability plans.
