By Daniel Tyokua

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), said it has tracked a total of ₦219.84bn projects that were poorly executed across 176 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

The Chairman of the Commission, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu, 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.

At a press conference held in Lagos, Aliyu 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 6 Geo-political Zones, and that the exercise is still ongoing.

He highlighted the findings from the Phase 6 Tracking exercise, stating that a total of 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 ₦220bn and the contracts value of all projects tracked was ₦285bn.

“The value of projects on which contractors returned to sites is ₦30bn; cash recoveries made so far is ₦163m; recoveries made in assets so far is ₦513.3m; recoveries made so far (cash and assets) is ₦676m.”

He said the cumulative savings to the government was ₦30bn and the number of contractors/companies involved in the tracked projects was 1,355.