Digitplus Industry Report 2026: IT Procurement in Nigeria

About this report. This is desk research of public sources plus our own view from delivery work since 2022. We ran no survey. Every fact in the full report carries a numbered source. Every opinion is labelled as ours. Treat our observations as directional.

This report is about buying IT in Nigeria in 2026. Not about using it.

It covers how government agencies and private companies got from a requirement to a working desk: the rules, the exchange rate, the audit record, data protection, and the power and port questions that sit inside every IT quote. The full report runs to about 5,800 words with 33 sources. This page is the short version.

The rules moved more than the law did

The Public Procurement Act 2007 still governs federal procurement. A Public Procurement Act (Amendment) Bill, 2026 was taken for first reading in the Senate on 8 July 2026. We found no record of an amendment being passed.

What changed was the machinery around the Act.

In May 2025 the Bureau of Public Procurement revised its approval thresholds. Goods contracts now need Federal Executive Council approval only from ₦5 billion. Below ₦25 million, an agency's Director-General or CEO approves as accounting officer. Below ₦50 million, a Permanent Secretary does. In our experience, many single-site device refreshes now sit entirely inside the agency. That is faster. It also puts the whole weight of a clean file on the agency's own procurement unit.

From 1 March 2026, federal agencies must send "No Objection" requests and related approvals through BPP's Digital Submission Portal. The approvals went digital. The tender itself has not yet.

Then there is Nigeria First. BPP told agencies to justify, and obtain a prior written waiver, before buying foreign goods or services. In September 2026 it enforced that hard for one category: vehicle purchases now need a BPP "No Objection" letter or certificate before payment can be processed. We found no equivalent circular for ICT. We also found no published register of the local manufacturers agencies are meant to check first, and no confirmation that the promised Executive Order has been gazetted.

The naira gave buyers a calmer year

For imported hardware, the exchange rate is the biggest single input to price. It moved in the buyer's favour.

Sources: Legit.ng for the year-end rates, Arbiterz for the NFEM close.

A device with a landed dollar cost of $1,000, before duty, VAT and margin, needed about ₦1.54 million at the end of 2024 and about ₦1.33 million in early October 2026. On 22 September 2026 the CBN cut its policy rate from 26.5% to 23%, citing greater stability in the FX market.

Stable is not fixed. On a large order, a few naira on the rate is still a few hundred thousand naira on the invoice. Ask every supplier what rate their quote is built on.

The audit record is a procurement record

The Auditor-General's 2024 Annual Report, dated July 2026, flagged ₦124.12 billion of procurement and contract irregularities. Of that, ₦76.96 billion related to irregular contract awards across 29 federal bodies, and ₦27.25 billion was paid for work not executed or not properly executed.

The largest ICT case was a census device purchase. The report says ₦131.56 billion was paid for 800,000 handheld devices. The agency said it received 760,000. Auditors found no credible proof of delivery: no receipts, waybills or inspection reports. These are audit findings, not court rulings. They are still the clearest public description of where an IT procurement file fails.

A delivery note signed by a storekeeper is not proof of delivery. Serial numbers matched to the order, an inspection report and an asset register entry are. Our guide to audit-ready IT procurement for government sets out the full file.

Two more inputs every buyer now prices

Data protection. The NDPC's General Application and Implementation Directive took effect on 19 September 2025 and replaced the old NDPR framework. Any IT service that touches personal data, from managed support to cloud, is a processor relationship. It needs a Data Processing Agreement, and a breach-notification time short enough to protect your 72 hours under section 40(2) of the NDPA. Put both in the request for quotation, not after go-live.

Power. NBS recorded an average retail diesel price of ₦3,277.47 per litre in May 2026, 86.4% higher than a year earlier. A specification that stops at the device is incomplete. State the power assumption for every site.

Our take, in brief

This part is opinion.

What is working: approval thresholds that match the size of the purchase, and more specifications written as functions instead of model numbers. A calmer rate has done more for honest quoting than any policy.

What is not: proof of delivery is still the weak point in public IT files. Local-content rules ask agencies to justify foreign purchases without giving them a published list of local makers to check. In the private sector, reactive single-unit buying still costs more over the life of the equipment than buying on a plan.

What is in the full report

• The full 2026 review: thresholds table, NITDA clearance, Executive Orders 003 and 5, tax changes that affect input VAT on capital purchases, port dwell times and import charges.
• Eight expectations for 2027, each with the assumption it rests on.
• What Digitplus intends to do in 2027, stated plainly so you can hold us to it.
• A checklist for buyers, from writing the requirement to closing the file.
• A numbered list of 33 sources.

Download the full report using the form on this page. If you would rather talk through a live requirement, our IT procurement team works with corporate buyers and with government agencies. For the process end to end, start with the complete guide to IT procurement in Nigeria.