Review of data from Oyo State open contracting portal reveals a now familiar trend of contract irregularities as the state again awarded contracts worth N694 million to persons closely linked to the governor. The Seyi Makinde-led Oyo state government has been linked to several contract irregularities and the “friends and family” pattern of awarding contracts has seen the state award a total of N1.2 billion between 2019 and 2021 to a recurring name, Oriyomi Hamzat and cronies.

In earlier investigations published by Dataphyte, the Oyo state government violated its Procurement law in the award of contracts worth N998 million. The two-part report also established that the sitting governor of the state, Seyi Makinde may have abused privileges of his office, as contract beneficiaries were linked to him, raising issues of conflict of interest.

A review of the Open contracting portal of the state has revealed yet another abuse of the contracting process by the state in the award of contract for notebook production worth N694 million in 2021.

Thirteen of Fourteen Contracts Awarded to Company Owned by, Linked to Oriyomi Hamzat

Fresh investigations show that on the 23rd of December 2021, the Oyo state government awarded fourteen different contract lots for the production of the now famous notebooks. The contract amount per lot ranged between fifty-million naira to sixty-two million naira.

The notebooks are meant for students of public secondary schools in the state.

The following companies got contracts; Insider Multipurpose Ventures, Sure Etiquette Media Plus Limited, Porsche Diversify Ventures, Icon Printing Press, SEWA International Ventures, JEDA Global Ventures, ASP Integrated Ventures and Landgard Investment Limited.

Review shows that of the fourteen lots; Insider multipurpose ventures got two contracts worth N118 million, Sure Etiquette Media Plus limited got two contracts worth N112 million, Porsh Diversify Ventures was awarded two contracts worth N112 million, Icon Printing Press got two contracts worth N102 million, SEWA International Ventures with two contracts worth N100 million, JEDA Global Ventures with two contracts worth N100 million and ASP integrated ventures had a contract worth N50 million.

Landgard investment, which won one of the contract lots, is the only company in this round of awards not linked to Oriyomi Hamzat, the remaining 13 slots were awarded to the same seven companies that have been linked to Hamzat and the governor in previous investigations.

Previous reports have shown that two of the companies, JEDA Global Ventures and Insider Multipurpose Ventures, were registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission on the same day and all of these companies are owned by or linked to the same person, Oriyomi Hamzat.

Beneficial ownership analysis done by Dataphyte for these companies involved in the contractual award abuse

These companies are neither printing businesses and at least three have no known location.

For instance, Sure Etiquette Media Plus Limited does not offer printing as a service and the company is not at its listed address on the CAC portal, Suite 27, Mojoyinola House at Kajola Monatan, Iwo Road. Instead, the company is located at Salinsile, same address listed on the CAC as that of JEDA, SEWA Int’l ventures and Insider Multipurpose. (Daily Trust: Text, excluding headline)

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