This investigation reveals corruption in multi-million naira contracts awarded to briefcase contractors who did not implement the projects after collecting the money. The Federal Government paid the contractor to construct solar-powered and hand pump boreholes in Yobe North Senatorial District.

In Yobe North, where Nigeria’s Senate President Ahmad Lawan comes from, over N350 million from the federal budget has been spent on phantom water projects, which Senator Lawan purportedly brought to his constituency.

The sleaze has denied people in Machina, Karasuwa and Jakusko access to potable water.

The projects — to construct solar-powered and hand pump boreholes in these areas affected by Boko Haram insurgency and where people are still in displaced camps — were awarded by Hadeja Jama’are River Basin Development Authority, an agency under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

The water facilities were supposed to be constructed between December 2020 and March, but an investigation by WikkiTimes has found that the boreholes were not constructed, despite paying the contractors.

In the 2020 national budget, over N121 million was earmarked to construct hand pump boreholes across Yobe North Senatorial District. In addition, N228 million was approved to build solar-powered boreholes across Machina, Karasuwa, and Jakusko local government areas in Yobe North as constituency projects of Senator Lawan, to be implemented by Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority.

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Then last December, Mellon De Company limited was paid nearly N30 million and another N97 million last March for the solar-powered boreholes, according to Open Treasury Portal, an open contracting platform of the federal government.

Another company Imdupa Global Ventures limited was paid over N66 million on two tranches to construct hand pump boreholes. Both companies were paid on the same day.

The other company Mellon De Company was incorporated in 2018 and had operated for less than three years when the contract was awarded.

By giving contracts to Mellon De Company, Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority breached the public procurement law, requiring companies to provide tax clearance for at least three years to qualify to bid for a federal contract.

But there are no available records that the projects were advertised for open bidding, another breach of the procurement law.

A barrage of manipulations and cover-ups

When WikkiTimes inquired about the projects, the Office of the Senate President claimed that the boreholes had been entirely constructed and produced fake pictures to back up the claims.

Suleiman Jamo, an adviser to the Senate President on Budget, insisted that the boreholes had been completed and commissioned across the areas nominated to benefit from the projects, but the pictures he provided as evidence were fake.

The pictures he sent to WikkiTimes exposed an alteration of a photograph from another solar-powered borehole project executed in a different local government area by another agency, Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority.

Forensic examination of the pictures provided by Jamo revealed that the project was part of the constituency projects executed by the Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority in Bade Local Government Area and not the boreholes that were to be handled by Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority. Both agencies awarded contracts for boreholes in Yobe North last year.

Evidence obtained from the pictures further revealed how the name of Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority was erased on the signpost with white paint and replaced with Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority.

“You took so much risk going to these areas you claim you have gone to. We all know these areas are high-risk areas,” Jamo said during a telephone conversation.

MORE ON THIS STORY HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/investigation-how-nigeria-government-wasted-over-n350-million-on-senate-presidents-ghost-water-projects-in-yobe-north/

Na the water project Dem tie with sack so


PDP government is far better than APC government by far

The first time I saw Ahmed Lawan , I knew he was something close to two words : incompetent and corrupt.

It is the Lawan sidekick Jamo who is trolling Nairaland and defending corruption and incompetence here.

That senate president is all shade of incompetence, corruption and cluelessness, just like Buhari