By Adedapo Adesanya
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it has tracked a total of N219.84 billion in poorly executed projects across 176 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the federal government.
This was disclosed by the ICPC Chairman, Mr Musa Adamu Aliyu, at a press conference held in Lagos to show progress made by the anti-corruption agency.
He said it achieved the feat through the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Initiative (CEPTI) set up in 2019, as a powerful tool against corruption in government projects as well as to track funds released for constituency projects by public officials.
Mr Aliyu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), noted that the initiative is to ensure government funds are directed towards impactful projects that benefit the most vulnerable Nigerians.
He also stated that the 2024 Phase 6 exercise, which commenced in November 2023 and ran through the first quarter of 2024, focused on critical sectors like education, agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure, spanning 26 states and the FCT across all six geo-political zones, and that the exercise is still ongoing.
He highlighted the findings from the Phase 6 Tracking exercise, stating that 1,721 government-funded projects were tracked within the Phase 6 tracking cycle and that the commission is conducting further investigations on some infractions discovered.
The ICPC Chairman also said appropriations for all tracked projects was N220 billion and the contracts value of all projects tracked was N285 billion.
“The value of projects on which contractors returned to sites is N30 billion, cash recoveries made so far is N163 million, recoveries made in assets so far is N513.3 million, and recoveries made so far (cash and assets) is N676 million.”
He said the cumulative savings to the government was N30 billion and the number of contractors or companies involved in the tracked projects totalled 1,355.
Aduragbemi Omiyale