BY PAUL MICHAEL
As part of its Phase 4 Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Exercise, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is set to track 550 projects in 18 states.
The exercise will specifically focus on Executive Projects (Federal Government-funded capital projects) in the following states across the country – Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Edo, Lagos, Ogun and Ekiti State, and the Federal Capital Territory.
The Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI) of the ICPC commenced in 2019.
The aim is to promote social accountability and transparency in the conception, execution, and management of public-funded projects as well as ensure value-for-money in the execution of the projects.
The first phase of the exercise in 2019 had a total of 424 projects tracked across 12 states, while the second and third phases respectively conducted in 2020 and 2021 featured 722 projects in 16 states; and 1,098 projects in 16 other states, and the FCT The focal sectors of the Phase 4 exercise remain Education, Health, Water Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development as well as Power sectors among others.
According to ICPC spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, the tracking exercise is to investigate fraudulent procurement practices, ensure projects are executed to the specified standard among others.
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“The mandate of the tracking exercise is to investigate fraudulent procurement practices in the award of contracts for the projects, ensure projects are executed to the specified standard and that value-for-money is obtained, monitor the implementation of the projects from inception to completion in collaboration with critical stakeholders, and make recoveries on projects/contracts confirmed to have been inflated or in which contractors under-performed or did not perform at all.
“In addition, the objectives of the tracking initiative include compelling the return of runaway contractors to sites to complete hitherto abandoned projects, tracking contracting companies for all statutory regulatory compliance, among others as well as prosecuting persons or institutions found culpable in undermining the execution of government funded projects,” she said.
