Helen Bebor, a 50-year-old plantain seller, left home in the middle of 2023 with the hope of making sales from her daily plantain business. However, an accident at the Zuba fruit market road caused her to break her leg. Bebor said the injury which kept her at home for almost a year, also caused her untold hardship and trauma, as she was unable to support her family financially.

“While walking along the road, a wheelbarrow pusher was coming, and another one was parked on the road. There was no way for me to pass, so I was trying to excuse the one coming towards me when I fell.

“The road is very narrow; there were many people, and nobody wanted to give me a chance to pass,” she said in anguish as she tried to describe the bad condition of the road leading to the Zuba fruit market.

“This is not a small market; traders from all over the country and neighbouring countries buy and sell here too,” Mohammed said.

Multiple sources in the market told The ICIR that the contract for the Zuba fruit market road was awarded twice or worked on two different timespan between 2017 and to date.

The market association, speaking through its chairman, Labaran Abubakar, and secretary, Shafiu Mohammed, alleged that the road had been hurriedly constructed and commissioned in 2022. They alleged that because the work was poorly done, it began to show signs of damage within months.

The commissioning of the road in 2022, which many of the market leaders attested to, however, left unanswered questions as none of them could recall the name of the contractor or who commissioned the road.

The section states, “Any person, company, organisation, or enterprise involved in the construction or maintenance of a public road shall provide adequate warning signs of the ongoing construction or maintenance at the construction areas day and night. “Failure to comply with this provision is an offence, and any person, company, organisation, or enterprise in contravention shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N50,000.00 or to a term of 18 months’ imprisonment or both,” it states.

The president of the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NISE), Lagos chapter and an expert on highway engineering, Isaac Akiije, said one can only challenge the non-provision of a signpost that indicates a contractor’s detail or a warning signpost by a contractor during the road construction can only be questioned if the clause for signpost erection is included in the budget.

He explained that if the signpost is part of the agreement and if it’s not done, then it is wrong.

Though the 2019 FCT Annual Audit Report on the six area councils indicated that the contract for the construction of the road was first awarded in 2017 to Ayo Atoyebi and Co. Ltd, the contractor denied knowledge of the contract.

The Audit Report stated that N12 million had been paid in advance for the repair of the road, leaving a balance of N87.7 million and that the work had been at 20 per cent at the end of 2019.

However, in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the details of the contract for the construction of the Zuba fruit market road, Ayo Atoyebi and Co. in a letter sent to The ICIR on July 2, 2024, and signed by its administrative manager, James Ayodeji, stated that it carried out a diligent search into its current and archived project files but could not locate any contract for the construction of the fruit market road in Zuba.

“It is therefore our submission that we are neither aware of the project, nor do we have anything to do with such a project,” the company stated.

In a follow-up conversation with The ICIR on October 17, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Ayo Atoyebi and Co., Ayofe Atoyebi, denied being given the contract and claimed he had never seen the contract papers.

“If I can see all the real documents that you are talking about, my legal team will work on it. We will sue anybody because nobody gave us any contract,” he said.

“Atoyebi and Co. is a company whose profile is everywhere. The profile is in the works department, federal works, FCDA, and anyone can pick our name and use it. That is why you are doing your job as an investigative journalist,’ he added.

He, however, explained that his company had entered into a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with the Gwagwalada Area Council to construct the Zuba fruit market but the partnership did not see the light of day.

“We did not do road; we only entered PPP on the construction of the fruit market, and they defaulted,” he said, adding: “We entered there and spent a lot of money, but the marketers did not allow us to construct.

“They demolished our work, so we took them to court and we won. As far as the road is concerned, we don’t know anything.”

“We spent money, we did all our things, we got approval, and when we moved to the site, these people came and fought us and destroyed all our property, and we went to court and won. This was between 2017 and 2018,” he stated.

“We sent somebody to Gwagwalada; he did not see anything like that. You are telling us something that we don’t know anything about.  Somebody is using my company name just like the other time, we submitted some documents and they used it for someone else,” he said.

President of the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers (NISE), Lagos chapter, Akiije, told The ICIR that a road done with asphalt should last at least 20 years.

He, however, said there are instances where roads are hurriedly done to achieve applause. Akiije described such roads as political and said materials used for such roads are likely compromised.

“From what you said, the road lasted for less than three years, so it could be a political road. They must have compromised with the material and thickness of each layer,” he said.

He explained that engineering roads takes time and attention, as each layer must have a specific material and size.

“One must investigate the specific material and size of each layer before one can decide if the road was designed to last for three or five years, but a road done with asphalt should last at least 20 years,” he said.

The Zuba Fruit Market Association has pleaded with the government to repair the 1-kilometre road from Lagos Park to Zuba roundabout, saying its poor condition continues to affect traders’ livelihoods, causing vehicles conveying fruits to get stuck, leading to losses as perishables get rotten.

Naomi Isa, an elderly trader, expressed concerns about the road’s impact on her sales, while Nneka Dioke, chairperson of the plantain section, highlighted the road’s deterioration since 2022. She said traders struggle as the bad state of the road leads to low patronage and reduced daily income.

A response received from the office of the Auditor General of the FCT council areas directed that the inquiry be forwarded to the FCT minister.

In compliance with the response, a FOI request was sent to the office of the FCT minister on September 24, demanding the same information. After the expiration of the seven days allowed by the FOI Act, a reminder was forwarded to the minister on October 7, 2024.
As of the time of this report, the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike has yet to respond to the request and the reminder.

Similarly, the chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council has also failed to respond to the FOI request sent to his office on September 12, asking for details of the contract awarded for the construction of the Zuba fruit market road. A reminder forwarded on September 24 was also ignored.

Others include; the date the project was advertised and the media outlets used, the contract execution period, the status of the project, and approved budgetary provisions. These details if provided as requested, could shed more light on the nature and scope of the contract awarded in 2017 and what happened to the N12 million paid to the first contractor.

However, after snubbing the request and a reminder sent to his office, the chairman of the Gwagwalada Area Council, Giri finally spoke about the contract in a chat with The ICIR on October 18 and 19.

He said he was not aware of the 2017 contract because it didn’t happen under his tenure but that of his predecessor, Adamu Mustapha.

“I was not in office at that time, so I don’t know anything about the contract. I came to office in 2022,” he declared.

He, however, confirmed that there was a road project in 2022 but again said it had been carried out before he moved into the office.

When asked about his plan to fix the deplorable condition of the market, he said, “I am not doing anything at Zuba Fruit Market now.” The attempt by the Chairman to absolve himself of the 2017 and 2022 contracts awarded for the repair of the Zuba Fruit Market Road projects violates sections 11–14 Procurement Act 2007 which state that procuring entities must keep electronic and file (hard copy) records of a contract for at least 10 years from the date of contract award.

The Procurement Act 2007 also states that within 3 months of the end of each financial year, procuring entities shall transmit all procurement-related records to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) showing the parties involved, date, and value of the contract, as well as other information relating to the procurement proceedings that BPP may request.

By this law, the chairman of Gwagwalada should have records of the contract for the Zuba fruit market even though he was not in office when it was awarded, as the government is known to be a continuum. The chairman’s reluctance to provide contract details implies a possible attempt to hide information from the public and a lack of transparency in the award of the contract.