The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) began tracking N1.802 billion executive projects in Kwara State on Wednesday in Ilorin.
Mr Nathaniel Sikpi, the ICPC Kogi Office’s Principal Superintendent of Investigation, told NAN in Ilorin that the purpose of the tracking was to ensure value for money.
Sikpi stated that the tracking operation, which is in its sixth phase, included 15 projects spread over the state’s three senatorial districts.
He explained that the tracking was done to guarantee that the projects were not just completed on paper, but also on the ground.
“The contract may be granted and performed on paper, and funds may be paid in full, but at the end of the day, no location and the ostensible beneficiary (in the event of empowerment) are even aware of such.
“The tracking of projects cuts across both executive and constituency projects, and the ones we are tracking now are majorly executive projects,” he went on to say.
The ICPC officer went on to say that Quantity Surveyors (QS) were part of the tracker team to verify that reports were made professionally.
Sikpi went on to say that the commission always followed up on previously tracked projects to guarantee compliance with instructions.
”There is always a follow up after tracking these projects and the commission adopts two major strategies.
”If it is a construction project and we discover that it was not well carried out, we force the contractor to go back to site and complete such, so that it will benefit those it is meant for.
”If it is an empowerment project, which is a bit tricky, we have a way of going around it; when we discover that the job is not executed effectively, we will recover funds.
”And so far, we have recovered funds in billions, which is available for the public to see on the website of the commission at www.icpc.gov.ng,” he said.