By Adeyemi ADEKUNLE
THREE months after a report commissioned by the ICIR under the Macarthur Foundation-funded Open Contracting Reporting Project (OCRP), a road project which was awarded to connect the Pai community to other communities like Leleye Bassa, and Leleye Gwari to Damakusa, Kwali area council of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital and was abandoned by the Contractor has commenced.
Read the investigation here.
The Investigation which was published on December last year shows how the affected communities waited for decades, hoping that Pai Road and the adjoining communities would finally receive the attention they deserved by getting a befitting road to boost their arable economy.
However, it wasn’t until 2023, amid Nigeria’s general election preparations, that their hopes seemed to materialise. The road construction awarded to KIS-MATE INTEGRATED RESOURCES LTD, a Jos-based company, was left unattended to after being graded, an action that dashed the hope of the people. Leaving them to face numerous challenges such as access to healthcare services, transportation issues related to the movement of farm produce, flooding, and even death.
The report highlighted the severity of the situation and the need for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of the affected communities. The findings of the report underscored the importance of improving infrastructure and services in these areas.
The road project was facilitated by former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Senator, Philip Aduda and Budgeted for 2020, which raised eyebrows due to its handling by the Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority and its award to Kis-Mate Integrated Resources Limited.
The purpose of this project was to construct roads and drainages, with a budget allocation of ₦400 million but financial records reveal a disbursement of only ₦72,089,802.33 in December 2022.
As of the time of the return visit to the communities, there is no financial record to show if the contractor had been fully paid before returning to the site of the road project.
However, after returning to site the contractor received ₦73.2 million in may bringing the amount paid based on publicly available records to amount ₦145.3 million.
To get the views of Sarkin Pai, Abubakar Sanni Pai, regarding the contractor’s return to the road project site, this reporter paid a visit to his palace. However, upon arrival, he was informed by the palace officials that the monarch was out of town and therefore unavailable for comment at that time.
On a visit to other parts of the community, it was observed that the residents were pleased with the commencement of the road project. A civil servant and farmer in the community for 11 years, Kareem Danladi, said he believes the road project will make things easier for them by allowing them to transport their farm produce to the market without the difficulties caused by bad roads.
A petty trader at Dagiri, Mary Omaha, expressed her frustration at the delayed progress of road construction in the area, ”I cannot understand why the contractor had just returned to the site; over a year after the road was graded, people had spent a significant portion of their income on medical treatments by accessing the road”.
In a bid to get the reaction on why the contractor decided to move back to site a mail was sent to the contracting agency, Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority, since no medium to reach out to the contractor as at the time of publishing this report no words have been received from the contracting agency.
This reporter revisited Jos, Plateau State, for the second time to gather crucial information about Kis-mate integrated resources limited. The first time was during the investigation, although very little about the company was found.
On May 10, 2024, a substantial sum of ₦73,233,977.79 was allocated to Kis-Mate Integrated Resources for the development of Pai and neighboring communities in Kwali Area Council. This brought the total amount released for the project to ₦145,323,708.12.
Subsequently, on May 15, 2024, this reporter made a sixth visit to Pai and adjoining communities to assess the progress following the fund release. To the dismay of this reporter, no tangible improvements were observed at the project site aside what has been done in March 2024. There was a conspicuous absence of any signs of work or machinery, raising concerns about the utilisation of the newly released funds.