A public expenditure tracking platform, Tracka, has uncovered how N8.6 billion was paid to ‘no-show contractors’ in the 2022 Federal Government budget.
A press statement issued by BudgIT, signed by the Head, Tracka, Ayomide Ladipo, revealed that the contractors were allegedly paid for projects that were either not executed or were poorly executed. “We uncovered N8.6bn payments to 26 ‘No-Show Contractors’ for 19 projects across nine States in the FG 2022 Budget. Nothing has been done on the site to date,” Tracka said, on Wednesday.
According to the report, in the Northern States, some of these unexecuted projects include N542m payment to Abu-Halawa International Ltd. between December 2020 & April 2023, under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for the construction of Jare Earth Dam, in Katsina.
The 2022 Project Tracking Report also gives an overview of the implementation of 2022 constituency and capital projects across 15 States, and highlights pertinent needs and abandoned projects across them.
According to Tracka, Taraba had the highest rate of abandoned projects at 27%, while Kebbi had the highest completion rate, at 76%. On constituency projects, Bauchi had the highest completion rate, with 97%; while Nasarawa, with 23%, had the highest rate of abandoned projects.
These and other payments for non-executed projects were uncovered in the 2022 Report, themed: “Empowering Communities for Economic Growth”.
Some of the projects identified by the platform in the South include the payment of N630 million to Babar Global Services Nigeria Ltd., and Foundation Solid (NIG) LTD for the construction of the Ogbese Multi-Purpose Dam Project, Ekiti.
BudgIT’s Country Director, Gabriel Okeowo, expressed dismay over contractors’ failure to execute the projects, saying: “Despite the clamour for increased allocations to capital expenditure by FG and sub-nationals, our tracking exercise has revealed that capital projects are the largest conduits of embezzlement and misappropriation.
He said lack of effective oversight on the part of the legislators and Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) has largely contributed to the high level of poor project execution and, in some cases, outright abandonment of projects.
Gabriel called on the anti-graft agencies to question and probe the misappropriations and prosecute erring contractors.
