The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice has demanded the recovery of more than ₦14 billion allegedly paid to Hartland Nigeria Limited for work on the Benin-Asaba road corridor.
ANEEJ Executive Director and Publisher of The Common Good Letter, Rev. David Ugolor, made the demand on Monday at a news conference in Abuja.
Ugolor said the Federal Government should recover the funds in the interest of transparency and accountability, particularly following the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi’s disclosure that only about 40 percent of the contracted work had been completed.
“We are particularly concerned by a recent statement by the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, that the Federal Government had paid about N14 billion to Hartland, a local firm, for the project.
“The minister also said that only about 40 percent of the agreed work had been completed,” he said.
Ugolor said the disclosure raised questions about the contract, payments, certification and actual work delivered.
He stressed that ANEEJ was not making an allegation but seeking clarification based on publicly disclosed facts.
“Our concern is that Nigerians are entitled to know exactly how N14 billion was committed, certified, paid and accounted for,” he said.
Ugolor urged the Federal Ministry of Works to publish the original contract, variations, supplementary agreements and the full scope of work.
He also demanded the release of the project’s payment records, including payment certificates, dates and amounts paid, as well as the identities of officials who certified and approved the payments.
ANEEJ further called for an independent technical assessment to verify the reported 40 per cent completion.
According to Ugolor, the assessment should determine whether the figure represents physical completion, financial completion, certified quantities, completed road length or a combination of these measures.
“We therefore call for qualified engineers to independently establish what was contracted, what was paid, what was certified, what was delivered and what remains outstanding,” he said.
The group also demanded the disclosure of the status of the Advance Payment Guarantee and the recovery of any outstanding public funds.
Ugolor recalled that Umahi had directed officials to activate the guarantee and write to the relevant banks to refund the money.
He said the government should disclose the institution that issued the guarantee, the amount covered, its expiration date, whether it had been formally called up and the amount recovered so far.
“Our main interest is that the job is not done and we want the money to be returned to the treasury,” Ugolor said.
He also called for a comprehensive investigation into the procurement, contract management, certification, payment, supervision and execution of the project.
Ugolor urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission, Bureau of Public Procurement, Code of Conduct Bureau and other relevant authorities to participate in the investigation.
He said the probe should establish who recommended and approved the payments, certified the work, supervised the project and authorized contract variations.
While welcoming Umahi’s directive for an audit of Hartland’s payment records and certificates across its projects, Ugolor called for an independent review.
“You cannot be a judge in your own case; the review should not remain an internal administrative exercise, given the magnitude of the public interest involved,” he said.
ANEEJ also called for a review of Hartland’s previous performance on Federal Government projects to determine whether its track record was taken into account in subsequent procurement processes.
Ugolor said the organization was not alleging that procurement laws had been violated but wanted the BPP and Ministry of Works to demonstrate that the relevant provisions of the Public Procurement Act were followed.
He warned that delays and poor infrastructure delivery impose high economic costs on Nigerians through higher transportation expenses, vehicle damage, delayed movement of goods and disruption of emergency services.
Ugolor said ANEEJ had submitted petitions to the EFCC, ICPC, BPP, Code of Conduct Bureau and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
“The Benin-Asaba road corridor is too important to become another unresolved infrastructure story,” he said.
