By Isaac Aregbesola
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has kicked off the 7th phase of the constituency and executive projects tracking exercise, which involves 1,500 schemes valued at N610bn.
Mr Demola Bakare, the spokesperson for the ICPC, said this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
According to Bakare, the exercise is an initiative of the commission that began in 2019.
He said it focused on how well money allocated to critical sectors like education, health, agriculture, water resources, and power, amongst others, was utilised.
“The 7th phase, involving 1,500 projects with a total project value of N610bn, commenced on November 18 in the FCT and 21 states across the six geopolitical zones.
”The are Kwara, Niger, Kogi, Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Imo, Abia and Enugu States and FCT.
“The tracking exercise will cut across agencies of government, including intervention agencies such as North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),” he said
He said that other agencies were the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Bakare said it also included the National Primary Health Care Development Authority (NPHCDA), the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), and the Ecological Fund Office.
He said the exercise’s objective was to deepen adherence to due process in the execution of government projects and improve value for money.
According to him, it also aims to entrench the culture of compliance with the scope and specification as contained in the contract documents.
“In the sixth phase of the exercise, the ICPC tracked 1,900 projects valued at N500bn across 24 states of the nation’s six geopolitical zones.
“The projects were tracked within the focal sectors of Education, Water Resources, Agriculture, Power, Health, Energy, and Roads. These projects in the 6th phase were awarded to a total of 1,355 contractors in 176 MDAs,” he said.
