The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, (ICPC), has commenced the phase 7 of the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Exercise worth N25 billion in Kebbi.
Team Leader, Alhaji Aminu Bala, the Chief Superintendent of the commission, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi, shortly after visiting various constituency projects on Wednesday.
Bala said that the objective of the exercise was to deepen adherence to due process in the execution of government projects, improve value for money, and entrench the culture of compliance with the scope and specification as contained in the contract documents.
“The projects to be tracked are within the focal sectors of Education, Water Resources, Agriculture, Power, Health, Energy, and Roads.
“Already now, we have visited Birnin Kebbi as you can see, and we have tracked various projects on education, and energy, among others.
“We are tracking 46 projects in 12 agencies worth N25 billion in Birnin Kebbi, Gwandu, Argungu, Augie, Bunza, Jega, Yauri, Bagudo and Zuru among other local government areas of the state.
“The objective of the exercise is to deepen adherence to due process in the execution of government projects, improve value for money, and entrench the culture of compliance with the scope and specification as contained in the contract documents,” he said.
Also speaking, the Investigation Officer in the team, Malam Musa Abdullahi, said the exercise focused on investigating fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for constituency and executive projects.
“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.
“We have started filing our reports to the commission for onwards commendation or direction to the contracting firms on statutory compliance,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tracking of constituency and executive projects is an initiative of the commission that began in 2019.
The focus is on how well money allocated to critical sectors of education, health, agriculture, water resources and power among others, by the government are utilised.
The 7th phase, involving 1,500 projects with a total project value of N610 billion, commenced on Monday, Nov. 18, in 22 states across the six geopolitical zones.
The states are Kwara, Niger, Kogi, FCT, Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Abia and Enugu States.
The phase 7 tracking exercise will cut across agencies of government including intervention agencies such as North-East Development Commission (NEDC), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Others are, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), National Primary Health Care Development Authority (NPHCDA), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and Ecological Fund Office. (NAN)
