ICPC begins phase 2 of project tracking in 16 states

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it is set to begin the implementation of the second phase of the constituency and executive projects tracking exercise in 16 states.

Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, ICPC’s spokesperson in a statement on Monday said that the exercise, which was scheduled to commence on June 23, would involve 16 states.

She said that the tracking became necessary after recording success in the first phase of the projects tracking exercise conducted in 12 states in 2019.

According to her, the states to be visited include Cross River, Taraba, Ekiti, Ogun, Gombe, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Jigawa, Abia, Delta, Ebonyi, Niger, Rivers, Oyo and Kaduna.

She also said that the projects tracking would focus on the following sectors: Health, Education, Water Resources, Agriculture and Power.

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“Some of the objectives of the tracking exercise are: to investigate fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for the constituency and executive projects.

“Also, 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,” she said.

Okoduwa said that the commission in 2019 launched the pilot phase of the exercise in which it tracked projects performance from 2015 to 2019 in 12 states.

She explained that successes of the exercise included the recoveries of tractors, ambulances, dialysis machines and other hospital equipment from sponsors of the projects across the pilot states.

Okoduwa said: “The successes also included the recovery of huge sums of money, hundreds of tricycles, grinding machines and other empowerment items from the project sponsors.

“Furthermore, the exercise forced contractors who hitherto had abandoned projects to return to the site to complete them.

“ICPC is again set to take the exercise to states not covered in the pilot phase with the aim of ensuring that government gets value in the execution of public projects, and improved delivery of social welfare services to the citizens.

“Just as the first phase, the project tracking will be done in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Media, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and other stakeholders.” (NAN)