… Begins tracking, Auditing of N675m
Eniola Yekini
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has launched a statewide special tracking exercise in Ekiti State.
The ICPC stated that the decision was part of the efforts to ensure transparency and value in public infrastructure spending and services,
It added that the step would target the physical verification and performance audit of 10 projects instituted National Assembly members representing the state with a combined contract value of Six hundred and fifty-seven million naira (N657 Million).
The exercise, which commenced on Tuesday, 18th August, 2026, mobilises joint teams of ICPC investigators, engineers including the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) to conduct on-the-ground assessments across the three constituencies in six areas such as power, water, road infrastructure, education, health and agriculture.
Speaking with journalists during the exercise, the Chief Superintendent of Investigation at ICPC covering Ondo and Ekiti, Andrew Osove, said the initiative is designed to achieve several critical national objectives such as enhancing fiscal governance, strengthening procurement integrity, enforcing contractor accountability and securing financial recovery.
Osove said the tracking was aimed at ensuring that projects awarded to National Assembly members and ministers for execution in communities were actually implemented and delivered in accordance with approved specifications.
According to him, the ICPC’s mandate extends beyond confirming the physical presence of projects at their designated locations, as the commission also scrutinises the quality and specifications of the projects.
The Team Lead disclosed that although the Ekiti exercise had only just commenced, previous tracking exercises conducted by the commission across the country had revealed instances where contractors collected contracts without visiting the project sites.
Osove further revealed that some contractors visited project sites but failed to execute the projects according to the approved specifications, thereby raising concerns about the quality and value of public expenditure.
He said the commission would take corrective measures whenever it discovered that projects had not been executed, including directing the relevant parties to return to the sites to complete the work.
His words, “We are in Ekiti today to track 10 projects worth about 650 million naira. The thrust of this exercise, or tracking exercise, is to ensure that National Assembly members and ministers who have been issued contracts to execute projects in communities have actually executed those projects.
“The ICPC is not just particular about execution of projects. We are also particular about execution of those projects to specification and this is done in order to guarantee value for money.
“So far in Ekiti, we have just begun, but from experience, what we have gathered is that some people actually get contracts and they don’t even go to those sites. That is from the experience in our team and other teams across the country.
“Others go, but it’s because those projects are not to specification. And in situations where people don’t execute projects, we either ask them to go back to site and execute them, or we recover the worth of that project.
“Even in instances where they are not executed to specification, the difference in value of what is not done is either returned, or they complete it or fix it.
“That is the thrust of the exercise”, the ICPC said.