Integrating Sustainable Procurement into Tertiary Education Management for Effective Sustainable Development: A Review Paper
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors
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Sunday Simeon Adaka
Department of Sociology, Federal University of Lafia, Nigeria
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- Keywords:
- Tertiary Education, Sustainable procurement
- Abstract
- The study explored the strategies to integrating sustainable procurement into tertiary education management in Nigeria. The paper used secondary data. The secondary data were collected from print and online publication. Content analysis was adopted to review the literatures. The paper concluded that adoption of an explicit sustainable procurement policy and embed it in institutional regulations, creation of a dedicated green-procurement unit or focal points (governance & coordination), effective implementation of capacity building programme, integration of sustainability criteria into tender documents and supplier selection, adoption of life-cycle costing (LCC) and whole-life value rather than lowest purchase price, supplier engagement and local supplier development,, procurement digitalization & e-procurement with sustainability checks, implementation of effective monitoring, KPIS and public reporting (transparency & accountability), ensuring budgeting & incentives (match finance to sustainability goals), integration of sustainable procurement into curriculum and research and effective stakeholder awareness and campus engagement are some of the strategies to integrate sustainable procurement into the tertiary education management in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the Nigerian tertiary institutions should develop and institutionalize comprehensive sustainable procurement policies that clearly define environmental, social, and economic sustainability standards for all procurement activities. Such policies should be embedded within institutional strategic plans and procurement manuals to ensure compliance at all administrative levels. The policy should outline specific guidelines for selecting suppliers that adhere to sustainability criteria—such as environmental certifications, ethical labor practices, and the use of recyclable or low-carbon materials. Nigerian tertiary institutions should ensure effective capacity building programme that will provide continuous training and capacity-building programmes on topics such as life-cycle costing, environmental impact assessment, supplier sustainability evaluation, and eco-labeling. Tertiary institutions should shift from traditional procurement practices that prioritize the lowest initial cost to approaches that emphasize *life-cycle costing (LCC)* and value-for-money (VfM) principles. Life-cycle costing considers the total cost of ownership—including acquisition, operation, maintenance, and disposal—ensuring that institutions make procurement decisions that are cost-effective over time and environmentally sustainable.
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