N14bn Asaba-Onitsha Road Payment Under Scrutiny as Coalition Demands Probe
Questions over how approximately ₦14 billion was reportedly paid for an 11-kilometre section of the Asaba-Onitsha road have intensified, with a coalition of civil society organisations demanding that anti-corruption agencies investigate not only the contractor but also officials involved in approving, supervising and certifying the project.
The coalition of about 200 civil society organisations from Edo and Delta states, operating under The Common Good Letter, has petitioned relevant government agencies over the contract awarded to Hartland Nigeria Limited.
At the centre of the controversy is the approximately 11-kilometre stretch running from Summit Junction in Asaba, Delta State, towards the Onitsha Head Bridge.
The petition followed recent comments by Minister of Works, David Umahi, who said the Federal Government had paid approximately ₦14 billion to the contractor under an agreement covering completion of the road as well as channelisation and hydraulic structures.
Umahi, during an inspection of the project in August, said only about 40 per cent of the agreed work had been completed and subsequently called for action against the contractor.
However, the civil society coalition believes the investigation should go beyond determining whether the contractor delivered the project.
It wants investigators to establish how the payments were authorised, who certified the work before funds were released, whether procurement requirements were followed and whether the Federal Government received value corresponding to the amount reportedly paid.
The petition, signed by the group’s publisher, Revd David Ugolo, was directed to anti-corruption and government agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Code of Conduct Bureau, Bureau of Public Procurement and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The coalition called for an independent examination of procurement records, payment certificates, engineering measurements, bank guarantees, project designs and other documentation connected with the contract.
It also wants authorities to establish the original contract sum, date of award, procurement method, approving authority and subsequent variations or supplementary agreements that may have altered the project’s cost, scope or completion timeline.
Another major issue raised by the coalition is the need to determine the exact amount actually paid rather than relying solely on the approximate ₦14 billion publicly mentioned.
Investigators, according to the petitioners, should determine when individual payments were made and whether they represented mobilisation fees, interim certificates, reimbursements, variations or other contractual obligations.
The coalition further demanded an independent engineering and quantity-surveying assessment of the project to determine the actual percentage and monetary value of work completed.
Such an assessment, it argued, should be compared with the reported 40 per cent completion level to establish whether the amount of work on the ground corresponds with government expenditure.
The group also wants scrutiny extended to engineers, consultants, project managers, accounting officers and other public officials responsible for measuring, supervising and certifying work before payments were approved.
The petitioners stressed that their demand for an investigation should not be interpreted as a declaration that Hartland Nigeria Limited, its directors or any government official had committed an offence.
Instead, they said competent authorities should establish the facts and take appropriate action only where credible evidence reveals wrongdoing.
They also cautioned that any arrest arising from the controversy should be undertaken by legally empowered law-enforcement agencies based on reasonable grounds and with constitutional rights respected.
The coalition called for the recovery of any money eventually established to have been improperly paid or not supported by corresponding work, while demanding prosecution or disciplinary action where sufficient evidence establishes criminality, negligence or misconduct.
Beyond the controversy surrounding the contractor, the petition has now placed the government’s payment and project-certification processes under greater scrutiny.
For investigators, the critical question may therefore not be limited to why the road remains incomplete.
It is also who measured the work, who certified it, who authorised the payments and whether Nigerian taxpayers received value for the approximately ₦14 billion reportedly committed to the project.
