ICPC begins phase II of constituency projects tracking in Nasarawa, says official

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has begun the second phase of its Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking in Nasarawa state.

Mr Bako Titus, ICPC Team Leader of the Constituency and Executive Tracking Group in Charge of Benue and Nasarawa State confirmed the development to our correspondent in Lafia on Thursday.

He said the exercise was to ascertain how contracts for projects awarded are executed in various communities across the state.

It was reported that the first phase of the exercise was conducted in 12 states of the Federation in 2019 and was concluded with 16 states earmarked for the second phase.

The projects are projects sponsored by federal lawmakers but funded by the Federal Government in the various constituencies of the lawmakers.

Titus said Nasarawa state was among the 16 states earmarked for the second phase of the exercise which would cover Water Resources, Agriculture, Health, Power and Education sectors.

He said it would also focus on investigating fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for constituency and executive projects.

“Our other objectives are to make recoveries on projects or contracts confirmed to have been inflated or in which contractors under-performed or did not perform at all; and track contracting companies for all statutory compliance,” he said.

He said so far, the group had visited Karu/Keffi/Kokona Federal Constituency and found most of the projects that were carried out and about to be completed.

He said in three sites the contractors handling the projects have been contacted to return to site to complete their work.

“We started the tracking on June 25 from Karu/Keffi/Kokona Federal Constituency and we tracked a substantial number of projects in the communities in this constituency and our tracking revealed that projects were executed except for three projects.

“Therefore, we have ordered the contractors to go back to the three sites of the projects to execute to standard those projects,” he said.

Titus said the team on completion of its tracking in Nasarawa West Senatorial Zone would move to Nasarawa South Senatorial Zone and commence tracking in Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency with major focus on water and power projects.

“Nasarawa South is our next target and I want to assure you that ICPC is not alone in this project. The project is supported by Action Aid and funded by Department For International Development (DFID).

“Also, the project tracking is been carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), other Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Media, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and other stakeholders,” he said.

He added that the tracking exercise was not aimed at witch-hunting- any contractor or politician but to ensure projects funded by the Federal Government for the benefit of Nigerians were completed for the use and benefit of those the projects were meant for.

He appealed to communities to own projects sited in their domain and make good use of them and not to withhold information if projects sited in their domain were not completed.

“I want to appeal to communities not to withhold information and not be afraid of approaching us. Also communities should take ownership of their projects.

“The Federal Government will not come twice and waste on money on projects it has already released money for as sponsored by lawmakers. So they should maintain and provide security for those projects. That is our appeal,” he said.

It was reported that other states covered in the second phase of the tracking are Cross River, Taraba, Ekiti, Ogun, Gombe, Kebbi, Kwara, Jigawa, Abia, Delta, Ebonyi, Niger, Rivers, Oyo, and Kaduna.