Anti Graft Agency Launches Phase Of Constituency, Executive Projects Tracking Exercise

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is set to commence Phase 5 of the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Exercise, following the successful completion of the 4th phase earlier in the year.

Accordingly to a statement on Monday, the 5th phase, involving 712 government-funded projects, will commence on the 8th of November, 2022 in 20 states cutting across the 6 geopolitical zones.

The states are Kaduna, Jigawa, Sokoto, Katsina, Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Cross River, Delta, Rivers, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Borno, Bauchi, and Gombe States.

As with other tracking exercises carried out by ICPC since the kick-off in 2019, the objective of the Phase 5 is to investigate fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for the selected projects across the country.

It aims to ensure that all government funded projects are executed fully to their specifications and to make recoveries where the project costs are inflated by contractors or are poorly executed.

The Commission, had in the 4th Phase of the exercise, successfully tracked 538 projects across 9 focal areas of Health, Education, Power, Water Resources, Works, Housing, Agriculture, Transport, and Environment.

The exercise was conducted in 19 states across the 6 geopolitical zones and the FCT including Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Enugu, Ebonyi, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Edo, Delta, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Adamawa, Yobe, Taraba, Borno and FCT.

Some of the findings from the Phase 4 exercise include discovery of N7.1 billion worth of padded projects, some contractors who had abandoned project sites being compelled to return to different sites to complete N10.9 billion naira worth of projects, while N6.8 billion naira worth of recoveries (cash and assets) have been made so far.