SOCIAL AUDIT: ENetSuD HAS AUDITED 5 KWSG PROJECTS WORTH OVER ₦7.2 BILLION

The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara-based Civil Society organization reputed for its #FollowKwaraMoney activities, has so far audited 5 projects of Kwara State Government (KWSG) worth Seven Billion, Two Hundred and Seventy-Six Million, Nine Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventeen Naira (₦7,276,945,817) during the first phase of its #KwaraSocialAudit that effectively started in September, 2020.

ENetSuD has also so far questioned about Nine Hundred and Twenty-Nine Million, Five Hundred and Forty-Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Five Naira (₦929,542,905) on four of these projects, while the 5th project awaits final re-assessment.

Ilesa Baruba – Gwanara road, Baruten LGA
The harmonized contract sum of Ilesa Baruba – Gwanara Road in Baruten LGA is ₦3,048,129,348. ENetSuD is yet to visit the site of the project but did a pre-visit audit of the Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation (BEME) approved to arrive at the contract sum by the Ministry. We discovered that the approved contract sum in the BEME for the project is grossly incorrect as we observed a discrepancy of Seven Hundred and Fifty-One Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty-Seven Naira, Twenty-Two Kobo (₦751,551,647:22) in the contract sums. This means that the correct contract sum as per the quantity and rates approved in the BEME for all the items was supposed to be Two Billion, Two Hundred and Ninety-Six Million, Five Hundred and Seventy-Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira, Twenty-Eight kobo (₦2,296,577,700.28). Thus, the excess of ₦751,551,647 discovered during our re-calculation of the BEME, which might have been a calculation error from the Ministry, was queried by ENetSuD. We await the correction to be made officially by the KWSG.

Geri Alimi Diamond Underpass, Ilorin
The contract sum for Geri Alimi Diamond Underpass is ₦3,639,444,660. Considering the nature of the project, many structures were buried underground and could have been measured accurately only during the execution stage. Our assessment had a lot of limitations because it was impossible for us to measure what we did not see. Thus, we were neither able to access nor assess many components of the project. However, a few components were assessable, and we were able to calculate a questionable shortage of about One Hundred and Seven Million, Eight Hundred and Three Thousand, One Hundred and Fifty-five Naira (₦107,803,155) (subject to our final coring test) from those few components only.

Patigi Secondary School, Patigi LGA

We feel that a sum of Thirty-One Million, Nine Hundred and Eighty Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety-Nine naira (₦31,980,799) was inserted without a justifiable cause into the bills of 21 projects for irrelevant items. We further used the same rate as approved in the BoQ and based on our re-assessment and re-evaluation of the works done on the site by the contractor, various items worth Twenty-One Million, Five Hundred and Thirty Thousand, Eight Hundred and Seventy-Four Naira (₦21,530,874) were not executed in the site when we visited it and this has been communicated to the government. In total, ENetSuD queried Fifty-Three Million, Five Hundred and Eleven Thousand, Six Hundred and Seventy-Three Naira (₦53,511,673).

College of Education (COED) Road, Ilorin
The total contract sum of the COED road project is ₦63,372,030:75. However, the total amount of work that the contractor did not do on the site based on ENetSuD’s re-evaluation was ₦16,676,430. This is aside from the 1-centimeter asphaltic concrete that needed to be added to the road to meet up with the approved thickness.

Government High School Ilorin
The total contract sum of the project is ₦361,957,438.82. ENetSuD did a preliminary audit of the work done by the contractor, but the level of works done at GHS by the contractor was not due for our quantitative (cost) evaluation as the project was still ongoing. When the project is completed and handed over by the contractor to the KWSG, we shall (again) do our final assessment (re-audit) on it to give rise to quantitative and qualitative assessments.

ALAGBONSI Abdullateef, Ph.D.,
Coordinator, ENetSuD
3/3/2021