In order to achieve adequate delivery of dividends of democracy to the residents, the Accountability Lab Nigeria in partnership with the Ekiti state government at the weekend organized a Stakeholders Forum on Open contracting and Project accountability.
At the forum, which came up in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, it was discovered that many of the projects monitored by the Initiative on Education and Health sectors were either not completed or in dilapidated state due to usage of substandard materials, while very few were in good shape.
The Stakeholders at the program posited that many of these projects majorly schools and hospitals because of lack of proper construction constitute threats to the lives of the pupils and patients respectfully .
The Accountability lab stated that the forum is a crucial initiative under the UNDP- funded Anti – Corruption and Innovation project (ACIP) with the aim of linking public procurement data to services and enhance transparency, accountability and governance in public projects, foistering a culture of improved and quality public service delivery
“The primary objective of this forum is to bring together key Stakeholders in the governance landscape, including government officials, legislators, Community beneficiaries, media representatives, Civil Society Organizations (CSO) contractors and professional bodies. The intention is to discuss and address the challenges identified during the comprehensive monitoring of health and education projects in Ekiti state”
While speaking with Journalists at the Forum,the Country Director , Accountability Lab, Odeh Friday said that out of the 24 projects monitored across the state by the Initiative, most of the ones implemented by the contractors were of poor quality, poor maintenance culture and have no sustainability plan.
He added that the project details and contractor name differ from data provided by the implementing agencies, adding that no assessments were conducted by the state government before awarding the projects.
“The Community, its leaders, the school managements, and nurses in charge of the Primary Health Care Centres had no idea of the project details to monitor its implemetation.
“Some projects have no sign post showing details of the project, some of them have been completed for over five years but awaiting commissioning while some were built in inaccessible sites.” He added.
In his response, the Director General, Ekiti Bureau of Public Procurement, James Folorunso commended the Initiative for generating the feedback mechanism on government-funded projects to ensure transparency and accountability.
While reiterating the commitment of his agency towards achieving the shared prosperity agenda of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, he gave assurance of using his office to strengthen the implementation aspect of the capital projects in the state to make sure that there is value for the money expended on projects.
He said, “I want to say that Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s administration has the mandate to deliver the dividends of democracy to Ekiti people and we are all aware of the mantra of this administration which is shared prosperity.
“We are going to be improving what we met on ground and from the Bureau of Public Procurement, it’s for us to strengthen the procurement and implementation aspect of the capital project to make sure that there is value for money.
“We will make sure that whatsoever government is committed to, is
actualised.
“We are going to be following the works of the contractors, we will follow up the MDAs involved in release of fund to make sure that this circle of project implementation is completed.”