BPP develops policy to boost women engineering firms in public procurement

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The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria and the Bureau of Public Procurement have moved to deepen the participation of women-owned engineering businesses in public projects, with the BPP disclosing that a new affirmative procurement policy is being developed to create more opportunities for women in government contracting.

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The BPP Director-General, Adebowale Adedokun, represented by the Head of the Energy Infrastructure Department, Eugenia Ojeah, said the policy would use public procurement to promote economic inclusion, enterprise development and broader participation in national development.

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The Director-General stated this in a goodwill message delivered at the 2026 International Conference, Exhibition and Annual General Meeting of the Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria in Abuja on Tuesday.

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The conference, organised by APWEN, has the theme, “Designing Adaptive Systems: Engineering Energy, Building Net-Zero, Delivering Tomorrow’s Infrastructure.”

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The BPP boss said, “More than ever before, the need for Affirmative Procurement has become expedient because it serves as a veritable tool to deliver the dividends of governance to all citizens.

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“It is therefore with great pleasure that I use this opportunity to inform this esteemed gathering about the National Policy on Affirmative Procurement, which, for the first time in Nigeria, is being developed not merely as a policy, but as a framework that seeks to align public procurement with the broader national agenda of economic inclusion, enterprise development and national development.”

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The BPP boss said women-owned businesses continued to face barriers including access to finance, technical capacity and historical exclusion from large-scale contracts.

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He said the policy would not amount to awarding contracts without regard to merit, but would create mechanisms that enable eligible businesses to compete.

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“It does not imply preferential treatment without merit; rather, it aims to expand opportunities, strengthen supplier diversity and build the capacity of target groups to compete effectively within the procurement system. This is particularly relevant to the women represented here today,” he said.

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The President of APWEN, Chinyere Nnenna Igwegbe, said women engineers must be positioned at the centre of Nigeria’s infrastructure development, particularly as the country responds to climate change, energy transition, urbanisation and emerging technologies.

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Igwegbe said, “Adaptive systems are, at their core, systems built for resilience, system that are able to respond to shocks, to changing demand, and to a changing climate. As we pursue net-zero, we are not merely reducing emissions; we are reimagining how energy is generated, how cities are built, and how communities thrive.

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“Nigeria, and indeed Africa, cannot be a spectator in this transition. We must be designers of it. And women engineers must be at the very centre of that design table, not at its margins.”

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She called for stronger collaboration among government, industry, academia, professional bodies, development partners and communities, saying infrastructure challenges could not be solved by one institution or profession.

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She said, “When you support a woman engineer, you do not support one person; you strengthen an entire profession and uplift a whole community.”

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Delivering the keynote address, a former Minister of Aviation, Babatunde Omotoba, said Nigeria must begin to design infrastructure as interconnected systems capable of responding to changing conditions.

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He said, “We cannot continue to design infrastructure only for the circumstances we know today. We have to think about what will happen tomorrow, and even beyond tomorrow. When we design a road, an airport, a power system, a railway or an industrial facility, we should be asking ourselves whether that infrastructure will still serve its purpose as circumstances change.”

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He cited the installation of total radar coverage and an aircraft sequencing system in the Nigerian airspace in 2009 as an example of an adaptive system that uses real-time information to improve safety and efficiency. He also called for a realistic approach to Nigeria’s energy transition, arguing that the country must balance its environmental objectives with its immediate electricity needs.

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“While Nigeria, with a population of 240 million people, is struggling with 4000 to 5000 Megawatts of Electricity, South Africa, with 64 million people, has over 51,000 Megawatts,” he said.

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The President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Ali Alimasuya Rabiu, represented by Patricia Nekpen Opene-Odili, said Nigeria must design deliberately for its future and ensure women engineers play a central role in that process.

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She said, “Climate pressures are intensifying. Energy systems are evolving. Nigeria cannot afford to be a passive observer of these transformations; we must be the designers of our own future. And that future needs the creativity, expertise and leadership of our women engineers across every field, from energy to digital technology to environmental engineering.”

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She urged APWEN to continue strengthening mentorship and leadership development for women engineers.

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