Public Procurement Law and Corruption Prevention: An Assessment of the Public Procurement Act 2007 in Taraba State, North East Nigeria

Public procurement law is a critical instrument for preventing corruption and ensuring value for public money in government contracting, and the Public Procurement Act 2007 established a federal regulatory framework administered by the Bureau of Public Procurement. In North East states such as Taraba, where procurement-related corruption has been linked to infrastructure deficits and diverted development funds, the implementation of the PPA 2007 framework warrants systematic examination. This study assesses the implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2007 in Taraba State, examining federal procurement compliance, the Bureau of Public Procurement's regulatory reach, and the state's own procurement law framework. A doctrinal and empirical methodology is applied, reviewing the PPA 2007, the Taraba State Public Procurement Law, BPP compliance audit reports, and EFCC prosecutions involving Taraba State procurement violations between 2018 and 2023. The study evaluates open tendering compliance, due process certification practice, and whistleblower protection effectiveness. Available procurement law literature from North East Nigeria identifies sole-sourcing without justification, inflation of contract sums, and abandonment of projects after mobilisation payments as the most recurrent procurement violations. The Anti-Corruption Procurement Standards of the OECD and the Transparency Principle in Public Finance Law guide the analysis. Recommendations address BPP monitoring field capacity, mandatory e-procurement adoption, and strengthened whistleblower protection. Keywords: public procurement law, corruption prevention, PPA 2007, Taraba State, North East Nigeria.