Corruption and public procurement documentation in Nigeria

Purpose of the paper: This paper communicates the interconnectedness between the poor procurement practice - corruption, and public procurement documentation. It discusses how intent and poor procurement documentation are not just catalysts that give rise to the ills within the public procurement practice, but the outset of the anomaly.

Design/methodology/ approach: This paper adopts both primary and secondary methodologies to examine corruption in the Nigerian public sector and suggest new approaches to reduce its ripple effects through public procurement documentation to the barest within the system.

This study examines documentation in public procurement processes in a context where the formal institutional environment is weak and ineffective. At an empirical level, this study adopts a qualitative approach to investigate 15 public sector practitioners. This study will rely on semi-structured interviews to review their perception of the Nigerian public sector procurement documentation challenges.

Findings: This study is based on an African context. The results of this paper intend to show that public procurement is deficient aided by practitioners and its documentation system. Thus, indicating the breach of procurement guidelines and standards align with poor documentation in public procurement.

Originality/value of paper: This paper will raise questions intended to be explored in the field to have practical and policy implications for enhancing public procurement practice and contribute to the ongoing theoretical understanding of effective procurement systems in an African context.