THE Nigerian Government has been urged to probe alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the execution of 1,052 solar streetlight projects worth over N762 million in some communities in Borno State.
An investigative report by the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) titled “Contractors, politicians divert streetlights meant for Borno communities to personal use” indicted contractors that were awarded streetlight projects in the local communities of Bayo, Kwaya Kusar, and Shani in the state for failing to install over 400 streetlights.
The report also indicted the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development for failing to supervise the project.
Participants made the call during an anti-corruption radio programme, ‘Public Conscience,’ produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development (PRIMORG), aired on Wednesday, October 16, in Abuja.
Speaking during the radio programme, an investigative reporter, Muhammad Ali, who authored the report, tasked leading anti-corruption agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to look into the discrepancies in the project execution and violation of the Public Procurement Act, leading to missing streetlights.
Ali, while lamenting that politicians in connivance with contractors were taking advantage of gaps in public procurement to divert projects meant for communities for their personal use, urged that “the government must act fast to ensure the streetlight project is completed.”
Explaining how the contractors failed to implement the streetlight project properly, Ali said the project was worth N762.3 million and was awarded to contractors in 2021.
“Dunkulu Global Venture was awarded 277 streetlights but installed 230, meaning the company failed to account for the 47 uninstalled solar streetlights.
“The project file of Dunkulu Global Venture at the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development lacked evidence of how the project was executed and did not meet the required documentation standards for payment processing.
“As for Facile Concept Service, it claimed to have fulfilled its part by bringing all 221 solar streetlights to Bayo and that they were installed within Briyel and other wards. However, it remains unclear how these streetlights were distributed and installed because, according to residents, some of them never worked,” Ali noted.
He added that RKK Inspire Service Limited allegedly failed to execute a streetlight project in Shani.
According to him, findings show that 277 solar streetlights were allegedly installed but only existed on paper.
Furthermore, records from the Open Treasury Portal indicated that RKK Inspire Service Limited received over N202 million for the project in February 2022.
He added that upon visiting the designated communities on July 1, 2024, no evidence suggested that the contractor had begun work on the site.
For his part, BudgIT’s state officer for Tracka, Garba Abdullahi, described the reported corruption in implementing streetlight projects in the communities as unfortunate while noting that the development reflected the country’s existing flawed public procurement system.
Abdullahi also called on the EFCC and ICPC to immediately beam their searchlight on the report while insisting that government agencies must ensure strict adherence to the Public Procurement Act by contractors.
He lauded PRIMORG and The ICIR for amplifying the report, urging citizens to support anti-corruption agencies with information to track and recover public projects mishandled by contractors.
“The ICPC and EFCC should put more effort into tackling these issues. The ICPC is doing a great job with that, but they cannot do it alone. They need citizens to help them report such cases.
“Whenever we discover issues like these, as BudgIT, we write to the ministry, mostly to ICPC and to the EFCC ministry, and inform the citizens. We tell the citizens so that they can confront their representatives with their votes.
“I encourage The ICIR to write to these agencies and the public. If they do, there will be a solution to that,” Abdullahi stated.
PRIMORG uses ‘Public Conscience’, a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio show, to raise awareness of corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria among the public and government.
The MacArthur Foundation supports the programme.
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