A civic-tech non-profit organization, BudgIT, has uncovered the sum of N8.6 billion payment for 19 projects left abandoned in nine different states across the country.
The survey, which was conducted by Tracka, a service delivery promotion platform of BudgIT, indicated that the funds were allocated to twenty-six contractors in the 2022 budget as part of capital expenditure. However, none of the projects were either executed or completed.
This was contained in a press release by the organization on Wednesday, highlighting some of the states where such projects were abandoned.
The report listed some of the projects to include the payment of N542 million to Abu-Halawa International Limited between December 2020 and April 2023 under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for the Construction of Jare Earth Dam in Katsina. Nothing has been done on the site to date.
It also noted that while the payment had been made of N630 million to Babar Global Services Nigeria Ltd and Foundation Solid (NIG) LTD between July 2022 and September 2023 under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for the Construction of the Ogbese Multi-Purpose Dam Project, Ekiti, the site has been abandoned since 2021.
The report revealed that the payment of N400 million to Laralek Ultimate Ltd in March 2023 under the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing for the Limited Rehabilitation of Opo Malu Road, Saki, Oyo State. The contractor for this site has never reported to the site to date.
These and other payments for non-executed projects were uncovered in the 2022 Project Tracking Report themed “Empowering Communities for Economic Growth.”
The report reviewed Tracka’s work and documented findings from the 3,691 projects monitored across 22 states in Nigeria between August 2022 and August 2023. Of these projects, 2,037 were completed, 1,012 are ongoing, 533 were unexecuted, and 109 have been abandoned as of the time of filing this report.
According to the report, under capital projects, Kebbi had the highest completion rate at 76 per cent, Oyo had the lowest at 25 per cent, and Taraba had the highest rate of abandoned projects at 27 per cent.
On constituency projects, Bauchi had the highest completion rate with 97 per cent, Oyo had the lowest with 28 per cdmr, while Nasarawa, with 23 per cent, had the highest rate of abandoned projects.
The report also gave an overview of the implementation of 2022 constituency and capital projects across 15 states and highlighted pertinent needs and abandoned projects across them.
BudgIT’s Country Director, Gabriel Okeowo, expressed displeasure over contractors’ non-execution of commissioned projects.
“Despite the clamor for increased allocations to capital expenditure by federal government subnationals, our tracking exercise has revealed that capital projects are the largest conduits of embezzlement and misappropriation.
“Lack of effective oversight on the part of the legislators and Ministries, Department, and Agencies has largely contributed to the high level of poor project execution and, in some cases, outright abandonment of projects,” Okeowo said.
He said governments at all levels need to take public project execution more seriously, considering the huge infrastructure gaps the nation is grappling with.
He urged the new government to find a way to block these loopholes and leakages; to ensure expenditure will not amount to pouring water into a basket.
“We call on the anti-graft agencies- Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC to question and probe these misappropriations in the 2022 budget expenditures and prosecute erring contractors. We also call on elected representatives to pay attention to the needs of their constituents and abandoned projects highlighted in the report, as they serve as pointers to where public funds should be directed to ensure efficient use of scarce public resources,” Okeowo said.
