By Taiwo Adediran
The federal government in the 2024 Appropriation Act listed procurement of books and journals with ICT facilities at the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute, NSPRI, Zonal Offices.
The books and journals with ICT facilities are to be supplied to the E-library of the research institute. It is a recurring project sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. These facilities are frequently domiciled within the Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) in Ilorin, with tender publications listed for the procurement of these library and ICT materials.
As of the 2024–2025 period, official tender documents (e.g., NGT Ref No: 117537836) typically cite the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as the overarching authority responsible for these procurements in zonal offices, while the NSPRI Directorate manages the procurement process. The line-item is with a project code of ERGP30111281 and had an allocated budget of N14,127,089.
In order to verify the execution of the project, the team paid a visit to NSPRI, Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, and met with the Procurement Manager, Mr Adeniyi Kolawole. Mr Kolawole took us on the procurement journey, with documents to back his claims. He explained that all projects on the line-item for the institute in the 2024 budget have been executed.
He, however, noted that while the projects were completely executed as at 2025, those in the 2025 budget were rolled over to 2026 budget with none executed in 2025. All 2025 appropriations were adjusted to 30% and the remaining transferred to 2026 budget because Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) faced procurement delays and funding constraints. There was therefore zero budget all through 2025.
To track the procurement of the ICT materials, we also met with the Director of the E-Library, Dr Akinmade Adebowale Adewoju, who confirmed that the institute’s library received 18 e-books plus five complimentary journals. It also got 2 years subscription on the Angora platform with Internet facilities for the researchers.
The subscription, according to him, expires by the end of April while the Angora subscription which costs $1500 for the two years expired in March, 2025.
In conclusion, the tracking confirmed that the project was executed in 2025 but there has been no follow up or sustainability efforts as the project is meant to be a recurring one.
