The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, has disclosed that the Agency has uncovered 257 duplicated projects worth N20.138 billion in the 2021 budget.
This was announced by the Professor while speaking at the 3rd National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector, held at the State House Conference Hall in Abuja.
He pointed out that the Commission’s review of the 2021 budget resulted in the discovery of 257 projects amounting to ₦20.138 billion being duplicated in the budget.
According to him, “The exercise verified implementation of executive and zip projects of legislators. We have so far initiated enforcement actions against 67 contractors and forced them back to site and ensured completion of 966 projects worth ₦310 billion some of which were hitherto abandoned.
“Our findings indicate that the same malady of corruption afflicts executive as well as zip projects thus undermining government projections, escalating the cost of governance and denying Nigeria value for money. These maladies include poor needs assessment that disconnects projects from beneficiaries; false certification of uncompleted contracts as completed; deliberate underperformance of contracts; incessant criminal diversion and conversion of public property by civil servants, to name just a few.”
