Findings from the Phase VI tracking of Constituency and Executive Projects by Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs) of government have exposed how staff of executing agencies connives with facilitators or contractors to execute shoddy projects.

The investigation was carried out by the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Initiative (CEPTI), an intervention initiative conceived to engender good governance, prevent corruption, and enhance transparency and accountability on government-funded projects, through the annual analysis of national budgets to flag seeming irregularities such as duplicated projects across MDAs, highlighting inserted projects and projects that MDAs do not have the human resources or skill set to execute as well as monitoring budget performance and projects execution to ensure value for money.

While the exercise was limited to 26 states across the 6 Geo-Political Zones, the report of the exercise presented showed that a total of 1721 government-funded projects with total value standing at N284, 602,881,868.57 were tracked.

The tracking exercise revealed several infractions ranging from project underperformance, non-distribution of empowerment items, and project abandonment amongst others.

The Phase VI tracking cycle in five focal sectors including projects from six intervention agencies (North East Development Commission (NEDC), Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Presidential Amnesty Program (PAP), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

The number of projects completed under the phase was higher (1,492 projects amounting to 86.7percent), although findings in terms of connivance between staff of MDAs and contractors are a lot similar to the findings highlighted in the previously published reports.

According to the report, in the course of the tracking exercise, 163 contractors whose projects execution were found not in compliance with the Bill of Quantities or who had abandoned their projects were compelled to return to project sites, and the value of such projects stood at N30,260,788,929.77, adding that Investigations are still ongoing on some of the infractions detected.

The discoveries, according to the report, necessitated the Commission to amongst others direct further investigations on issues uncovered, resulting in the recovery of cash and assets, and enforced the distribution of hoarded items to the intended beneficiaries.

On non-distribution of empowerment Items, it noted that empowerment items meant to be distributed to intended beneficiaries were procured but hoarded by the project facilitators possibly for electoral campaign activities.

It observed that some agencies particularly were in the habit of handing over empowerment items to stakeholders for onward distribution to the intended beneficiaries, lamenting that the practice has encouraged hoarding and politicization of the empowerment-sharing processes, especially within NEDC and Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC). (The Guardian)

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