IN 2003, the Federal Government secured the procurement of about eight fire-fighting trucks through the now-defunct National Sports Commission (NSC).

The procurement was part of safety recommendations made by the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) required for Nigeria to organise the 2003 edition of the All Africa Games (COJA), held at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As of the period, Amos Adamu was the Commission’s Director General, while Olusegun Obasanjo was the country’s President.

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Most of the selected sporting activities were held at the Abuja Stadium, later renamed the Moshood Abiola Stadium.

Meanwhile, the fire equipment would come in handy should any fire disaster outbreak break out during the international games organised for the 53 African countries.

With the backing of the Presidential Task Force on Stadium Project, the trucks arrived from China, but that was about six months after the game had ended. They were commissioned in 2004.

But independent findings by The ICIR revealed the supplied equipment includes five Simon ALP 340 aerial platform fire trucks and three SG-170 (water and foam tank) vehicles. The ICIR can also confirm that since day one, it was delivered and parked at the stadium facility; the fire trucks had not moved an inch.

According to a contractor, the trucks are worth over N8 billion based on 2023’s monetary value of the equipment. Regardless, they have been left for rots for almost 20 years at the Package B Section of the Abuja Stadium and not put to use.

Adamu agreed the trucks were commissioned, but the Federal Fire Service (FFS) has repeatedly distanced itself from the abandoned fire trucks.

“What I know is that the fire engines arrived in Nigeria six months after the 9th All Africa Games. They were commissioned by the then Sports Minister, Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd), in 2004. But authorities of the Federal Fire Service said they have no knowledge of the fire-fighting trucks at the stadium,” he stated.

But on August 8,  2022, The ICIR visited the Stadium to get first-hand information on the equipment status.

The trucks were parked adjacent to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) parking lots with their tires deflated. The paint had already begun to peel off while the metal frames were smeared with rust.

It was an eyesore. And no one seems to have taken full responsibility for the machines. The scrapped NSC and the Federal Ministry of Sports and Youth Development have been silent over the neglect.    

Neglected fire trucks outlived multiple administrations  

The mystery behind the abandoned equipment has outlasted at least two Ministers of Sport and Youth Development – Musa Mohammed, a retired Colonel and Solomon Dalung.

The incumbent sports minister, Sunday Dare, has also failed to retrieve the multi-billion-naira equipment from their sorry states.

“When I assumed office in 2015, my first visit and comment were on the abandoned fire-fighting trucks,” Dalung said in a report by the Nation.

“I asked questions, but nobody came forward with information on how they were acquired.”

“I did my investigation, but no document or record was found. I also went through the Tenders Board of the then National Sports Commission, but there was no record or trace of such equipment until I left office.”

He said he had “honestly wanted to auction” the trucks, but there were no documents to validate their procurements.

However, he estimated each piece of equipment cost between N220 to N250 million.

That implies the eight trucks would amount to about N2 billion as of 2015. This would be a conservative figure. The value, as of date, would be much higher due to the exchange rate. In August, The ICIR mailed the Chinese firm – XCMG that assembled the truck, but there was no response as of when filing this report.

A search through machineryline, a local firm that sells fire trucks (Foreign used) and other heavy-duty machines, shows a relatively lower sum.

For instance, a foreign-used MAN Fire Ladder Truck, registered as a 2002 product, sells for about N14.69 million.

Though the trucks under review might cost higher based on the nation’s currency value and specification, the above truck is merely to give an estimated value. It is difficult to establish the exact value of the trucks under rots..

Regardless, Dalung could not do much, thus, left the equipment until the incumbent minister took over.

“It’s sad, and it pained me to see such investment rotting away due to negligence,” Dalung lamented.

By the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term in office in 2019, Dalung left office.

However, the equipment’s state has continued to be a concern among stakeholders and relevant public members.

It, again, tilted the mind to the government’s habitual trend of project neglect.

“If that happens to be their personal vehicle, would they have left it that way unused,” a source at the Stadium angrily queried.

New findings 

In the course of filing this report, indications showed that the contractor that supplied the trucks was yet to be balanced on the payment for the service rendered.

The ICIR can confirm that this significantly contributed to the abandonment, based on information gathered from sources at the ministry of youth and sport.

HTM International Nigeria Limited, a private unlimited company, was registered on October 8, 1987. Based on OSINT findings, it is based in Oyo State. It has five directors with RC number: 100471.

It majors in fire equipment installation, protection and detection, and fire equipment maintenance.

The ICIR can also confirm the sports ministry is not its only client. It has rendered services to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); the State House, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

On Wednesday, September 21, 2022, this reporter attempted to reach out to HTM International Nigeria Limited, to get the contractor to speak, but it was not successful. 

Another effort was made a month after, but it was a similar experience.

By November 7, The ICIR tried once again, but it was not successful.

Over 500 fire incidents in FCT in 2021, several others in 2022

Undoubtedly, different states across the country have experienced fire disasters at one point or another. It is more pronounced during the dry season or the harmattan. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is not an exception. And reports have shown that fire disasters have become reoccurring, especially in the harmattan.

Sadly, firefighting trucks are either unavailable as of the outbreak or poorly equipped to kill the inferno during an outbreak.

In 2021, for instance, the federal capital territory witnessed over 500 fire incidents. Towards the end of the same year, 2021, another fire incident led to the death of six persons and 11 others injured.

Besides, within the first quarter of 2022, the territory witnessed another. Notable public institutions in the country, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Defence Headquarters, the Institute of Human Virology, and the Federal Ministry of Finance, also experienced fire disasters at one point or the other.

These implied that even if the fire trucks were no longer useful at the stadium, they could have been fixed and converted for other users to swiftly respond to fire incidents in the territory.

Minister, Perm Sect aware of project’s neglect – Ministry official 

On Tuesday, September 20, The ICIR moved to visit the defunct National Sports Commission (NCS), currently collapsed into the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

The visit was to establish reasons the multi-billion naira fire truck was left unused for about two decades.

But a source within the ministry at the Office of the Head of Service Building advised that the Director in charge of General Services would be in the best position to speak to the rot.

The ICIR approached the director, identified as Hajia Halima, but she questioned why the journalist would have the effrontery to gain access to the Stadium and take pictures of the neglected equipment without permission.

She would later question the reporter’s identity even after a formal introduction with requisite identifications.

In the long run, she advised the reporter to visit the ministry’s permanent secretary’s office. Being a civil servant, she said she had no permission to speak on the matter until the PS gave a directive.

Seated at her office was an official identified as Engr. Yabo. He had visited to meet with the general service director. The staff appeared privy to the issue; hence, he jumped into the conversation to query why the reporter would have to delve into the matter.

“As I am speaking to you, the minister, the permanent secretary and the FCTA are aware of the situation, and they are about taking action on those facilities,” he said while validating The ICIR’s earlier findings on the fire trucks and the decades-long neglect on the equipment.

“Do you know the contractor has not been fully paid,” he added?

“Those trucks are not in good shape; they are not in use. So if you say those trucks should be moved, the contractor has to be paid.” He revealed while querying the reporter. The ICIR, then proceeded to the Perm Sec’s office, Ismaila Abubakar. 

At the Perm Sec’s Office, the reporter met with Secretary. He advised the reporter to wait as the Perm Sec was in a meeting.

About 30 minutes after, he told the reporter to meet with the ministry’s Director of Facility, Ifedayo Okedairo, back at the Stadium. This was the same stadium The ICIR had visited before approaching the ministry at the head of the civil service building.

But it was a different twist at the director’s office. He distanced himself, saying he was not in the best position to speak on the matter because he was newly posted to the department.

His deputy, Alanamu, to whom this reporter was referred, refused to speak. He asked The ICIR to make an official request.

Freedom of Information (FOI) was written to demand the project’s contract information and the reason for the neglect, but as of the time of filing this report, no feedback has been provided by the ministry.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Sports Minister, Media, Kola Daniel, appeared unaware of the neglected projects when he was contacted on January 13. However, he asked The ICIR to call back later, so he could “make an investigation” into the matter.

Repeated calls to him on the evening of January 13, this year failed. He ended the calls.

Experts reaction

The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), a civil society organisation with a thematic focus on monitoring public procurement, attributed part of the problems to ‘loopholes in the procurement process’ with references to similar challenges in the health and education sectors.

The Chief Executive Officer of the group, Jubril Shittu, also identified issues of contract splitting, delayed releases of approved budgets and inflation as notable causes of project abandonment.

Just as in the case of the delivered but neglected fire trucks, he complemented his argument with the PPDC’s findings of similar completed projects but remained under lock.

“The first is the budgeting practice of having whole projects broken down over multiple years or longer periods rather than including the entire project cost as a lump sum. This is a major source of unfinished and inflated projects, as unrealistic expectations are set right from the start of the project.

“The next is the delayed release or disbursement of funds late after they have been approved. By the time the funds are released, there might be inflation and a hike in the exchange rate, further hampering the project’s progress. We have also observed that some projects are completed but under lock and key because they are awaiting commissioning.”

In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Dataphyte, Joshua Olufemi, was particularly concerned about citizens’ engagement and why the public should be aware of awarded contracts meant to improve their lots.

He raised the need for the public to ask critical questions once they sight an abandoned project at the local, state or federal level. Though Olufemi identified the paucity of funds as a possible issue, he disclosed the Federal Government might decide to prioritise one project over the other.

Regardless, he questioned the poor oversight functions of the lawmakers on the awarded but abandoned contracts.

“…the oversight body, the legislative arm of government, is either lack of capacity, lack of will or even understanding their role in budget monitoring to when the project has been implemented or when it’s not,” he stressed.

He, however, called for a database to house all abandoned projects across the country. This, he noted, could be developed by civil society organisations. The directory, he emphasised, should reflect which project was ongoing, which has been completed, and how much of the budget circle would be required to ensure the project is completed, among others.

“So, we still need some grassroots data collection or aggregation. For instance, what are those projects in your area that have been abandoned?

“These trucks have been here for 20 years, and I don’t know if the citizens have ever called on any government,” he queried. “But I think it also goes down to the most important thing we need to begin to think of as a country.”

The Head of Communications, Kwara Football Academy, Ibrahim Jatto, in his remarks, described the problem of rots in stadia as something not peculiar to the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja but other stadiums in Abeokuta, the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, and other parts of the country including the stadium at the National Stadium, Surulere.

“I will advise you to expand the report. You will even see beyond abandoned fire trucks. You will see how national monuments are being neglected. You wonder if the FG was doing that deliberately or share negligence…,” he queried, stressing how it was important to draw the public attention to the menace.

Jatto recalled one of the strategies Dare, the sports minister, utilised to address the situation by involving the private sector. This includes Aliko Dangote and others who adopted stadiums across the country. But, he described the approach as unsustainable because the private sector is profit-oriented.

Regardless, he advised the FG to show more interest in maintaining government facilities in the stadium. He said beyond boosting the sports sector, it would create job opportunities, and the country could look up to hosting international tournaments.

“When people come into our country, they buy our foods, sleep in hotels, visit tourist centres and bring in foreign currencies. In a way, it contributes to our economy…so the government needs to show more commitment to maintaining our facilities.”

Jatto also asked the right authority to sanction those culpable for the fire truck’s neglect.

“We need re-orientation on the maintenance of sports infrastructure.”

Olugbenga ADANIKIN

Olugbenga heads the Investigations Desk at The ICIR. Do you have a scoop? Shoot him an email at oadanikin@icirnigeria.org. Twitter Handle: @OluAdanikin