The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over the weekend said it will embark on a fresh tracking of 712 constituency projects due for execution in 20 states across.
The spokesperson for the commission, Azuka Ogugua, confirmed that the exercise would be carried out with the objective to investigate fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for the selected projects across various constituents.
The ICPC has announced that it will be tracking constituency projects across 20 states.
Ogugua also noted that the tracking process will also ensure that all government-funded projects are executed fully to their specifications. She said that the ICPC will make recoveries where the project costs are inflated by contractors or are poorly executed.
The states where the tracking of constituency projects will be taking place include:
1. Kaduna
2. Anambra
3. Sokoto
4. Katsina
5. Kwara
6. Niger
7. Kogi
8. Cross River
9. Delta
10. Rivers
11. Ogun
12. Ondo
13. Osun
14. Oyo
15. Jigawa
16. Enugu
17. Abia
18. Borno
19. Bauchi
20. Gombe State
Finally, Ogugua noted that from its findings on the Phase 4 tracking process, ICPC discovered N7.1 billion worth of padded projects.
She said some contractors who had abandoned project sites were compelled to return to different sites to complete N10.9 billion worth of projects, while N6.8 billion naira worth of recoveries (cash and assets) have been made so far. Her words: “Also, 109 out of the 543 selected projects in Phase 4, amounting to N1,176,867,800 were found to have been inserted, which effectively turned them into Zonal Intervention Projects.”
She also informed the general public that intelligence gathered shows that the insertions were done by both legislators and some members of the executive arm of the government in the budget-making process.
