ICPC to track 550 projects in 18 states

The Spokesperson for ICPC, Mrs Azuka Ogugua, in a statement on Friday in Abuja, said the exercise would commence on May 9.

According to Ogugua, the exercise would focus on Federal Government funded projects in Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Kaduna, Kebbi and Kano States.

Others, according to her, are Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Edo, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti States, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

She said that a total of 424 projects were tracked across 12 states in the first phase of the exercise in 2019.

ICPC spokesperson said the second phase conducted in 2020 featured 722 projects in 16 states while the third phase in 2021 featured 1,098 projects in 16 other states and FCT.

She identified the focal sectors of the fourth phase of the exercise to include the education, health, water resources, agriculture and rural development and power sector.

According to her, tracking involves investigating fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for projects.

“It ensures projects are executed to the specified standard, value-for-money obtained, and implementation of the projects are from inception to completion monitored.

“In collaboration with critical stakeholders, there will also be recoveries on projects/contracts confirmed to have been inflated or where contractors under-performed or did not perform at all, ” she said.

Ogugua also said that runaway contractors were compelled to return to site to complete hitherto abandoned projects during the tracking.

She added that the exercise also compelled contracting companies to comply with all statutory regulations as well as prosecuting persons or institutions found culpable in undermining the execution of government-funded projects.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CEPTI, an initiative of the ICPC, commenced in 2019.

It is aimed at promoting social accountability and transparency in the conception, execution and management of public funded projects as well as ensuring value-for-money in the execution of the projects.