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The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has said it has returned over 500 contractors to sites to complete abandoned and shoddily completed projects.
The commission said this was achieved through its Constituency and Executive Project Tracking Initiative, CEPTI.
Demola Bakare, Spokesperson for ICPC, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.
He quoted the ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, as saying this at a Policy Dialogue on the Role of the Private Sector in the Implementation of Constituency Projects in Nigeria.
The dialogue was organised by OrderPaper Advocacy Initiative in Abuja.
The chairman, represented by the Secretary of the Commission, Clifford Oparaodu, said CEPTI had saved the country hundreds of millions of naira in the process.
”CEPTI, through its various phases has tracked over 3,485 projects between 2019 and 2023.
”Some of the uncompleted projects not only deprived Nigerians of basic amenities and infrastructure, but also posed the risk of increased security risks.
”Some of the projects or buildings might be inhabited by unscrupulous members of the community,” he said.
Mr Aliyu underlined the importance of the Private sector in monitoring the implementation of constituency projects in the country.
He said that completed constituency projects were major dividends of democracy, which fostered growth and development at the grassroots.
The ICPC chairman said that lack of accountability in execution of projects was “a red flag of systemic corruption” that short changes the electorate and deprives them of beneficial social systems that should be readily available.
Mr Aliyu further said that the private sector had a major role to play in identifying and preventing corruption in execution of projects and highlighted the successes recorded via the project tracking initiative of the Commission.
He lauded the increased impact of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, NGOs and other stakeholders in the private sector.
“Private sector participation in constituency project implementation is integral to the execution of such projects hence it should be accorded the necessary encouragement.
”This is based on the conviction that the process stands to benefit more from value chain in areas like funding and investment” the chairman added.
Mr Aliyu stated that the recent pronouncement of the Supreme Court as regards Local Government autonomy necessitated increased efforts to optimise the resources allocated to the grassroots.
