OPTIMISING PROCUREMENT PROCESSES TO REDUCE THE COST OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

This study focuses on optimising the procurement process to mitigate the cost of educational resources in Lagos State, Nigeria. In the context of the continually evolving educational landscape, the efficient acquisition of educational materials plays a pivotal role in resource management for educational institutions. This research aims to identify and implement strategies within the procurement process that can reduce costs without compromising the quality of educational resources. The study population consists of 396 administrators in both junior and senior secondary public secondary schools in Lagos State Educational District III. Simple random sampling techniques to select 4 schools from each zone and a purposive sampling technique was used to select 20 school administrators. On the other hand, 20 administrators were chosen at random from each zone using a purposive sampling technique making a total of 80 participants. This studyuseda4-point Likert scale questionnaire to generate the data. The stated hypotheses were tested using the Simple Regression Analysis. Study results showed that there is a significant relationship between implementing cost-effective procurement practices on the accessibility andadequacy of educational resources available to students in Lagos State Educational District III (R²=.211; F=21.258; p<.01). It also shows that There is a significant relationship between the effective integration of technology and achieving cost savings in educational resource procurement in Public Secondary School inEducationalDistrict III (R² = .019; F = 8.871; p<.01). It was recommended that government and school administrator should create a centralized procurement unit to oversee the purchasing of educational resources for all public secondary schools in Lagos State.This will ensure better coordination, streamline the procurement process, andhelpnegotiate betterpriceswithsuppliers.