Deputy Director and Head of the Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Division, Sulaimen Jimoh, expressed concern over the significant number of missing projects that were supposedly executed under various constituency and executive initiatives.
Jimoh highlighted the issue following the release of the Summary of Tracked Projects by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which showed that some projects, despite being listed as completed or ongoing, were absent during field visits.
“MDAs have projects in their budgets, and their files were collected and analyzed,” Jimoh said.
“The ICPC sent project trackers to various states to verify the projects, but during ‘Phase 6’ investigations, some projects were not found at all,” he said.
According to the ICPC, over 80 constituency and executive projects were identified as abandoned or incomplete across 26 states during the Phase 6 tracking exercise conducted between 2023 and 2024.
Out of 1,721 projects tracked, 1,492 were completed, while 136 were ongoing.
However, 13 projects had not been executed, 12 had yet to commence, and 6 sites could not be located.
The ICPC’s report also revealed concerning findings regarding ethics and integrity compliance within MDAs, indicating that out of 323 MDAs assessed, 15% showed poor compliance with ethics and integrity standards.
Mr. Demola Bakare, Director of Public Enlightenment and Education at the ICPC, attributed part of the problem to the lack of coordination between legislators, which often led to project abandonment.
He noted, “We observed cases of sudden, partial, or no execution of projects, with a lack of synergy between outgoing and incoming legislators leading to abandonment, misuse of government-funded projects on private properties, and the conversion of project vehicles for personal use.”
Regarding the compliance scorecard, Bakare reported that none of the MDAs achieved full compliance.
He stated, “29.55% of the MDAs attained substantial compliance, 51.62% achieved partial compliance, 15.91% had poor compliance, and 2.92% had no compliance at all.”
The ICPC’s Summary of Tracked Projects includes the following breakdown:
Abandoned Projects: 62 (3.6%),Completed Projects: 1,492 (86.7%), Projects Not Completed: 13 (0.8%), Ongoing Projects: 136 (7.9%), Sites Not Found: 6 (0.3%), and Projects Yet to Commence: 12 (0.7%).
These findings raise serious concerns about the effective implementation and oversight of government projects, highlighting the need for greater transparency and accountability in the execution of public initiatives.
