THE rising profile of the South-East as a haven for abandoned projects is fanning the embers of worries among residents and stakeholders in the region, who deplore politicians’ non-altruistic reasons for project initiation and execution. They regret that several projects that should have boosted the
economy of the region, or radically improved the lives of their constituents have been abandoned by successive governments, despite being conceived years ago. More heart-wrenching is the fact that tonnes of taxpayers’ money that should have been used for other life-changing initiatives have either been frittered
away, or siphoned through these poorly conceptualised, or politically-motivated projects. Lawrence Njokua and others writes .
How do members of the political class abandon Primary Health Care (PHC) projects for years after spending millions of naira on them, especially knowing their importance to the electorate, including women and children?
How do they come up with otherwise lofty water projects that should have a direct impact on the well-being of the governed, only to leave them midway after millions, and in some cases, billions of naira had been paid out to contractors?
Just how do they initiate projects that are not need-driven simply because they want to use them as conduits to siphon scarce resources?
As a legion of questions continue to pop up regarding project abandonment by the political class, nothing mirrors this bizarre practice like the step taken by the first civilian governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Sam Omiyi Egwu, who 21 years ago, had a tall dream, which culminated in the birth of the tallest building in the state – a 10-storey building, that was to serve as the World Trade Centre (WTC).
At an elaborate ceremony at the behest of the state government, the governor, in unfurling his vision, regaled his audience that the initiative would be a one-stop centre, where various economic activities would be consummated, just as it would offer various world-class services, boost commerce, trade, investment, as well as promote tours.
Of course, Egwu an educationist, could not get the project to work before exiting office in 2007, despite raising the building to the tenth floor and getting it roofed.
Over 17 years after Egwu left office, two decades after it was initiated, and in sharp contrast with such projects in other parts of the world, the imposing edifice which has gulped billions of taxpayers’ money remains a monument of shame.
Rather than offer one of the most luxurious destinations for global commerce, luxury living, and premium entertainment, the one in Ebonyi State lies in ruins, a typical white elephant project and an embarrassment to visitors to the state. Till today, enough has not been said about how a functional WTC would have added value to the lives of indigenes of the state directly and indirectly.
“Desirous” of improving the health of the residents of Imo State, former governor, Rochas Okorocha in 2017, set sail on a mission to enhance their access to quality healthcare services.
He consequently awarded contracts for the construction of 27 general hospitals in all 27 local councils across the state at the cost of N1 billion naira each. Although some of the buildings were completed and roofed, the administration, which executed the jobs through direct labour failed to provide facilities that would make the place fit for purpose. The Senator Hope Uzodimma-led administration that succeeded Okorocha has done nothing to get the facilities operational.
Now, some of them are simply empty shells having been vandalised by criminal elements while some others are providing cover for all manner of criminals in the state.
Moved by what it described as the “need to improve efficiency and provide a conducive work environment for workers,” the administration of Governor Sullivan Chime, in 2012, began the construction of a N13.6 billion secretariat complex for workers.
The secretariat complex, which covers 6.7 hectares of land, also became necessary since structures at the old site were dilapidated with old and leaky roofs, poor conveniences, and accommodation spaces. To date, that project is still partly uncompleted.
The brief narrative above paints a picture of what is replicated across the length and breadth of the South East where thousands of multi-million naira worth of poorly conceptualised, or politically motivated projects tie down scarce resources or are used to siphon money from states’ coffers.
A visit to some of these projects that litter the region confirmed that some of them constitute an albatross on present governments, in addition to being an economic waste, as present officeholders have no plans for most of them.
The ones located in city centres have not only taken over scarce land spaces that could have been used for other meaningful ventures, they have also become eyesores and derelict.
For years, people of the South-East have been agitating to sever links with the rest of the country while adopting both orthodox and unorthodox modus operandi. One of the major reasons that many have lost faith in democracy, and its ability to positively affect the well-being of Nigerians is the mounting number of projects abandoned by previous and present governments and political officeholders.
Until a deep dive is done, the sheer magnitude of the menace may not be fathomed. This perhaps explained why the Nigerian Institute of Quality Surveyors (NIQS), only recently, stated that no fewer than 15,000 government projects have been abandoned in the South-East. These government-initiated projects targeted at public good could have turned the bleeding economy of the region around and improved its aesthetics if they had been completed and made functional.
This a confirmation of the fact that these multi-billion-naira projects, some of which have remained uncompleted and abandoned since 1999, despite over N10 trillion naira received in federal allocations, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and 13 per cent oil derivation among other financial interventions by successive governments of the region.
The 2022 Surveyor’s Report, which indicated that the South East region topped the chart with 15,000- the highest number of uncompleted and abandoned projects, listed the number of government’s abandoned projects in other zones of the country thus: South-South 11,000; South-West 10,000; North West 6,000; North Central 7,000; North East 5,000, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 2,000.
An investigation by The Guardian showed that no state government in the South-East region has been denied its monthly allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) since 1999.
Figures obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that between 1999 – 2007, over N897.3 billion was received from the FAAC by the five state governments of Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, and Anambra states.
From 2008-2018, over N967.2b was also received as allocation from the Federation Account. Between 2019 and 2023 (five years), allocations to the five states of the region crossed over four trillion naira. In 2019, the five states received N1.07 billion; in 2020 – N1.17 billion; in 2021 – N1.37 billion; in 2022 – N588.19 billion and in 2023 – N680.59 billion.
Allocations have improved since the removal of fuel subsidies with state governments receiving more in the current administration, but there is still nothing to show for.
Additionally, billions of naira ecological funds went to these states as direct interventions from the Federal Government, as states like Abia and Imo have benefitted from the 13 per cent derivation funds, and intervention projects from agencies such as the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); loans and grants among others.
All these notwithstanding, last December, the Enugu Regional Manager of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Emmanuel Akpa, lamented that 21 power projects in the region had been abandoned since 2019 due to funding gaps, and the attitude of some communities over the right of way.
Steady power is the oxygen that powers any economy, but Akpa while conducting newsmen around some of the projects regretted that the facilities, which have gulped several billions of naira, and were meant to boost power supply in Arochukwu, Okigwe, Nnewi, Enugu, Nsukka, Orlu, Ninth Mile among other areas have remained untouched for five years now.
-Ebonyi’s growing list of abandoned projects-
IN 2015, under Sir Martins Elechi, who succeeded Egwu as Ebonyi State governor, his Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Ifeanyi Ikeh, said that there was no way the state government would abandon such a huge financial investment, stressing then that N100 million had been earmarked for the completion of the project before the end of that year. The money was never released, and the WTC remained the way it was.
During his tenure, the current Minister for Works, Dave Umahi, did not bother about the completion of the project in the guise that he was not convinced about its integrity.
When he was Speaker of the State House of Assembly in 2016, the incumbent governor of the state, Francis Nwifuru, set up a 9-member ad hoc committee headed by Odefa Obasi, to probe abandoned projects in the state, including the Centenary City, International Market, Ezillo Water Schemes, as well as the World Trade Centre. Whatever the findings of that committee remained under wraps to date.
Presently, there are serious doubts if the WTC project is one of those abandoned projects that Nwifuru has on his agenda since he has yet to speak about it.
Besides the aforestated abandoned projects in the state, there are also the Calypso Electric Project; the Olympic International Stadium; Ebonyi Waste Recycling Plant, and the Ebonyi Five Star Hotel among others initiated by Elechi and Umahi-led administrations that have not been completed, after billions of naira were spent on them.
Equally worrisome in the Ebonyi milieu is the Ebonyi International Airport (named after former President Muhammadu Buhari, and later renamed Chuba Okadigbo International Airport. The airport, which was inaugurated by Buhari, in April, last year, is still undergoing rehabilitation after over N36 billion was allegedly spent on it.
The legacy project of the immediate past administration of Dave Umahi had its runway recently awarded for rehabilitation at over N13.5b. The job, which was awarded in September last year, was given an April 2024 deadline. Work has, however, continued at snail speed, even as the state government continues to assure that it would soon be completed for flight operations, and other activities to commence. There are fears, however, that it may not be a viable project even after completion, especially with the poor level of Ebonyi State’s economy.
-Like Ebonyi, like Imo-
IT is not only the 27 abandoned general hospitals worth N27 billion that constitute a source of frustration to the people of Imo State. Indeed, they are a legion of multi-billion-naira projects abandoned in the state since 1999, according to a Quantity Surveyor, Chukwubuike Njemanze.
Njemanze, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Landmark Investments, listed some of them to include the Nwaorieubi-Mbieri Road in Mbaitoli Local Council; the Nekede-Ihiagwa-Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO)-Obinze Road in Owerri West Local Council, part of which was commissioned by the Buhari.
Other abandoned road projects in the state are the Agbala-Obibiezena Road in Owerri West Local Council; the Orlu-Urualla Road in Ideato North Local Council; the Naze Junction-Awaka Junction Road in Owerri North Local Council; the Inland-Nekede Old Road, which caved in on Nekede side; the Owerri West LGA; the Orji (Owerri North LGA)-Mbieri (Mbaitoli Local Council) Road in Owerri.
Nothing mirrors the absolute waste of funds like the Multi-purpose Imo International Conference Centre (IICC), which consumed billions of naira during the Okorocha administration and thereafter started caving. The incumbent Hope Uzodimma-led administration had no choice but to bring down the entire structure to pave the way for new construction. Since it was pulled down, work had progressed at snail’s speed.
-Amid long list of comatose projects, Mbah kick-starts rescue mission-
OF the three structures that sprouted up simultaneously as part of the secretariat complex, only one was completed and commissioned before Chime exited office in 2015. The remaining two structures have remained uncompleted to date thereby exacerbating the accommodation challenge that was part of the reasons for its conceptualisation. Some ministries and agencies are still occupying the old secretariat buildings that are bereft of modern facilities.
It is unclear if the completion of the secretariat is on the priority list of Governor Peter Mbah, as he has not spoken about it since he assumed office.
However, recently, the multi-million-naira, International Conference Centre, started several years ago by the administration of Chimaroke Nnamani, has started receiving attention. Two administrations before Governor Mbah turned their back on the project, which had been roofed.
The conference centre, which is sandwiched between the Enugu Government House, and the state House of Assembly, was initiated for want of a venue that could absorb large gatherings. The centre has a 3,000-capacity auditorium; a 1,500-capacity secondary event venue; a dome with a 500-seat capacity, a shopping facility, a food court, and a recreational centre with a mini amusement park among other enticing facilities.
The buildings had been roofed and some of the fittings fixed before Nnamani exited office in 2007. His successor, Sullivan Chime did not think the state needed such a project and therefore, did not care about its completion. This created an avenue for the vandalisation of the centre. Parts of the unused surroundings were partitioned and sold to private individuals.
After the immediate past administration of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi assumed office, it promised to complete the centre. But for eight years, the most it did was to cut the grass anytime there was an outcry that the overgrown centre constituted a danger to the residents.
The current governor, Mbah has recovered all land parcellated and sold in the centre. He has also awarded a contract for the completion, as well as inaugurated a five-star hotel on the premises of which work has started.
Last October, the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ugochi Madueke, stated that the government approved its completion because it would create jobs for youths and improve the state’s revenue base.
She assured that the project would be completed in March 2024. March has, however, passed and the project is still uncompleted.
Another major project that was abandoned by the Chime-led administration is the multi-million-naira Medical Diagnostic Centre. The former administration completed the building but left the project without installing the equipment needed to make it function as he exited the office in 2015.
In one of his interviews, after he left office, he claimed that his government paid and took delivery of some of the medical equipment for the centre. The Ugwuanyi administration that succeeded him, however, did not attend to the centre. But in 2020, when Coronavirus ravaged the state, the facility was used as a major centre in the state for isolation and care of those infected with the disease.
In May 2023, a few days before he left office, Ugwuanyi handed the centre over to the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), managers of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund to equip and run in partnership with the state government.
Ugwuanyi also stated during the occasion that: “The partnership with NSIA to transform this facility with the promise of significantly better equipment and services will go a long way towards contributing to healthcare security in the state. With this, our state will be one of the few states equipped with world-class healthcare infrastructure and amenities”.
Since the partnership was struck, nothing much has happened as not much rehabilitation work has been done on the facility, which is still not functional. The diseases that it was meant to investigate have continued to ravage the residents.
Successive Anambra governors show disdain towards predecessors’ projects
EXCEPT for the long-abandoned new Government House, in Awka, where work has recommenced, several other projects initiated and abandoned by helmsmen, who initiated them still dot Anambra State.
The project was started under former Governor, Chinweoke Mbadinuju’s administration. It witnessed a hitch when Mbadinuju’s successor, Chris Ngige refused to fund it.When newsmen visited the site of the project, it was discovered that skeletal work has commenced in parts of the project, which the state government says it would spend over N6 billion to realize.
A source at the state secretariat expressed worry that legacies left by the Peter Obi-led administration that could have been improved upon to create employment for youths and enhance the state’s aesthetics have not been prioritised, especially in the state capital.
Last September, students at the Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha, Anambra State, protested when a flood took over the institution and paralyzed both academic and non-academic activities.
The perennial flood, which ravaged the Federal Government-owned institution was worsened after state government contractors destroyed their existing drainage while attempting to build a new one, without providing alternative measures.
Not long ago, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) urged Governor Charles Soludo, to re-award the abandoned Ugwuakwu-Ibughubu-Achalla Road in Umuchu, Aguata Local Council, which links the area to Umunze, Orumba South Local Council.
The human rights group said that the road was awarded by former Governor Willie Obiano, to decongest the ever-busy Nkwo Umuchu-Osete Road and reduce incessant road accidents.
The project was abandoned at about 40 per cent completion due to a paucity of funds.
Across the state, over 50 water-related projects facilitated by federal lawmakers as constituency projects, were recently either abandoned or have not been started years after funds were released by the government.
The projects, under the supervision of the Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority (AIRDBA), were nominated by the lawmakers between 2017 and 2019.
-Abia as haven for uncompleted projects-
ABIA State has had its fair share of abandoned projects since the return of democratic rule. Indeed, the misrule brought to bear on the state, has found expression in the sheer number of projects abandoned by former governors Theodore Orji, and Okezie Ikpeazu, both of whom did a lot to retard development in the state.The multi-million naira new government house project comprising the Governor’s Lodge, Office, and some staff houses was abandoned by Orji. The project became necessary as The Government House of the state operated from a rented apartment.
Ikpeazu, who inherited the project from Orji, did not reckon with it until his sixth year in office. He shortly after re-abandoned it afterwards.
A few months to the end of his eight years in office, he resumed work on it, but despite its non-completion, he commissioned it a day to the end of his tenure for use. He, however, never used it for one day.
It has again been re-abandoned by the present administration of Dr Alex Otti, who said that it was not a priority project, even as he has also shunned the old government house used by his predecessors Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, TA Orji, and Okezie Ikpeazu. Otti has been operating from his private residence since he was sworn into office, last year.The Umuahia and Aba Regional Water projects were inherited from the old Imo State. Previous administrations thereafter did not do much to actualise the World Bank-sponsored project. Presently, they are abandoned at different stages of completion.
The Port Harcourt road project in Aba has been abandoned for many years after the contract was awarded by ex-governor Orji. His successor Ikpeazu re-awarded the contract during which over 100 structures along the road were demolished. It has again been abandoned.
Shortly after he assumed duty in May 2023, Otti re-awarded the contract for its expansion to six lanes, to Julius Berger Construction Company. Work is in progress now.The Metallurgical Complex, Aba is a giant project that was conceived after the Nigerian Civil War but has remained abandoned.
However successive state governments allegedly retained their staff, constituted their management boards, and continued to provide for their salaries, allowances, and stipends in the annual budgets.Some of the projects abandoned by Orji are the failed Nkata/Amaogwugwu/Umuagu Link Road; Afugiri/Umuokehi/Umunkaru Link Road; failed World Bank Housing/Timber Road Link Road; Abia Dry Sea-Port, and Abia Refinery.
Under Ikpeazu, some of the abandoned projects are the Abayi Umungasi Drainage Project; Old Umuahia/Umuode Nsulu Road Project; the construction of an airport started and abandoned by Orji; construction of Umuaro Umuokahia to Nenu road started and abandoned by Orji, and the Construction of Ntigha Umuanunu Road that leads to Akwa Ibom State started and abandoned by Ikpeazu among others.
-Abandonment of projects impoverishing zone, stunting developmental efforts-
PROJECT abandonment by politicians in Nigeria has several significant consequences on society, and they range from wasted resources to stunted development, negative environmental impact, increased unemployment, and erosion of public trust.
According to the Convener of the Dan Ukwu Leadership Foundation, Mr Daniel Ukwu, the 15,000 abandoned and uncompleted projects spanning the health, education, roads, and water sectors, if executed, should have been of great benefit to the zone.
He regretted that revenues that should have been invested into other productive areas were being trapped in them, and there were no hopes that they would be completed and used soon.
He added: “My other worry is that it may now take double the amount of the initial award sums to get them completed. You can imagine what the South-East region would have looked like if these 15,000 projects were completed and working. They will not only attract revenues, but they will also provide employment and even boost development in the region. They will be a source of pride for our people.”
A finance expert, Prof. Chiwuike Uba, while lamenting the spate of abandonment, also regretted that these investments could have triggered development in the economy and solved other social vices in the region.Uba added that the unemployment, and youth’s restiveness among several crimes being committed in the region could have been reduced if these facilities were made to work, adding that they have become part of the inefficiencies of the leadership.
He insisted that allowing them to continue to deteriorate was not the best, suggesting that those in government should plan how to take them bit by bit, or at most seek, partnerships with private organisations to get them completed and put to use.
“These projects are still very much relevant for the stability and growth of our economy. They can add value to what we have depending on how they are managed and the goals behind them. There is no way those who set out for the project could not have factored into play, how it would affect the environment before moving for it. So, they are still very relevant”, he stated.
A public affairs analyst, Nwachukwu Obinna, agrees that current governments in the region should resort to private partnerships to get completed.
He blamed the level of abandonment on the attitude of past governments whom he said were either not interested in them, or deliberately left the projects as a mark of punishment on the South-East region.
He stated that the nature of politics played in the zone whereby “nobody wants to continue with the programme of his predecessor has created room for abandoned projects all over the zone,” and called on politicians to have a change of heart for the interest of the people.
For the Initiator of Dan Ukwu Leadership Foundation, Daniel Ukwu, the spate of abandonment could have been reduced if there had been unity of purpose among the governors in the zone.
“They have carried their politics into government houses,” he stated, regretting that aside from the millions of naira buried in them, more money would be required presently to see the projects through.Ukwu suggested that other governors should take a cue from the Enugu state government by taking the projects one after the other.
“Enugu has started with the International Conference Centre. That is because they believe it will yield revenue faster than others. So, let the other governors think inward and know the ones that could yield revenue faster and pursue them. When completed, whatever is realised could be invested into realising others,” he stated.
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