Three different projects which cost N398.8 million, facilitated by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia North, have been mishandled by the contractors chosen to execute them.
Kalu is the incumbent senator representing Abia North in the Senate. In this position, he has influenced some projects in his constituency. However, some of these projects have either been of substandard quality or have not been executed at all, which smacks of fraud, according to Tracka, a platform designed to track the implementation of government projects.
Kalu was handed a custodial prison sentence in 2009 over a N7.1 billion contract fraud said to have been perpetrated by him alongside Slok Nigeria Ltd., his company; and Jones Udeogu, a former director of finance in Abia State. But he regained his freedom on June 3, 2020, per a court order.
Austin Njoku, the spokesperson of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) at the time, had spoken of Kalu as a “well-behaved inmate” while in prison. “Ex-governor Orji Kalu was released from custody at exactly 5:05 pm on Wednesday. He was discharged after we received the court warrant on his release,” he said, adding that he was “a well-behaved inmate; he did not give us any trouble at all”.
In 2023, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) released N337 million to fund the construction of the 450-metre Umuaku Road in the Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State.
The institute released the money between May and November 2023 to Dear Prince Nigeria Ltd., the contractor.
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The construction stretched from Umuaku Junction to a community market. Less than a year after it was built, however, a section of the road along the community market was already deteriorating, showing it was poorly done.
‘FRAUD ALERT’ ABOUT AROUIKA ROAD
In 2023, the NBRRI commissioned Oxford Construction and Waste Management Ltd. to build another road in Umunneochi LGA.
A total of N27.1 million was released to the company to construct the road specifically in Arouika Community.
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The contractor went to the location and registered its presence by erecting a signpost. But no substantial construction took place on the road, said residents.
The road has been abandoned, worsening community residents’ daily transportation experiences.
OGWUMABIRI ROAD
Ogwumabiri Road in Umunneochi LGA was also formally destined to be constructed in 2023 and provide a fresh commuting experience to road users.
The NBRRI had a good time funding contracts in Kalu’s area of representation in 2023, but the funds failed to deliver value to the people. Between March and November of that year, it gave N34.7 million to Unfurls Umuegbede Ltd. to rebuild the 5-kilometre road in Umunneochi LGA.
Unfurls Umuegbede Ltd is linked to Chibuike Samuel Nwachukwu, an Abia State-born politician whose ambition in 2023 to represent the Umuahia South State Constituency under the Action Peoples Party (APP) failed.
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While the road was done, it failed the test of time within a short period. Some parts of the road have been peeling off.
Curiously, the length constructed falls short of the 5 kilometres stated in the 2023 budget. Tracka wrote, “Contrary to what was stated in the line item, the road is a 500m road in Ugwamabiri, a village in Obinolu community, and it was completed and asphalted early last year.”
Nigerian federal lawmakers have a notorious reputation for using constituency projects to divert public funds with little or no consequences at all.
FIJ had earlier reported that the Independent and Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) uncovered how lawmakers siphoned over N2 billion through phoney constituency projects between 2019 and 2022.
Source: FIJ
