Findings on the ground also show that the 1.3km, which was only completed this January, was poorly done as some parts of the road were already damaged.
By Arinze Chijioke
In the build-up to the 2023 general election, the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Orji Kalu, promised residents of Ezeukwu in Bende local government that he would rehabilitate the road that connects the community to Obinagu in Ivo LGA, Ebonyi State, should they support him. The former Abia State governor was running for his second term in office as senator.
Constructed in the 80s, the road boosted economic opportunities for residents of Ezeukwu. Apart from making it easier to transport crops such as yam, cassava and palm kernel which are commonly grown in the area, from their farms straight to the market in Ivo and for transactions within the community, it was the shortest route to Ebonyi and Enugu States.
Old bridge constructed in the 80s is stronger that the bridge constructed just 5 months ago.
However, as years passed, the road began to dilapidated and make it difficult for community residents to evacuate crops from their fertile lands. The steel used to construct the bridge connecting Ezeukwu to Alayi, another community in Bende also started to fail. Kalu promised to ensure that a new bridge was built.
“And so, when he came with the promise, we gave him every support during the election,” said Vincent Okorafor. “We hoped to return to the good old days because we contribute massively to agriculture in Abia state,” he added.
A Promise Kept?
In what looked like a fulfilment of his campaign promise to the people of Ezeukwu, Nuk International Resources Limited, a construction company arrived in the community in November 2023 to rehabilitate the Mile 2 Obinagu Road In Ivo LGA, Ebonyi State to Ezeukwu – Alayi Road Bende, Abia state.
However, out of the 7km that the project was originally supposed to cover, residents say only 1.3 km of road was constructed, including the bridge. Findings on the ground also show that the 1.3km, which was only completed this January, was poorly done as some parts of the road were already damaged.
Good sections of the road and where contractor stopped.
Whenever it rains these days, parts of the road that have not been constructed become impassable for residents who now find it difficult to convey their farm produce to the market to make sales.
Monica Ogwo is one of the farmers whose livelihoods are being negatively impacted by the poor state of the road, which has become unmotorable. Now, she says that buyers who used to drive into the community to buy her cassava and palm oil have stopped coming.
“We can only use motorcycles, which are usually too expensive, or carry our crops on heads or wheelbarrows,” she said, adding that the situation is affecting her income. “If it rains heavily, I cannot even go to my farm because everywhere will be submerged,” she lamented.
Monica said that before the construction of the road, which has now been abandoned, politicians made several promises of rehabilitation, which they never kept, adding that prominent sons from the community usually would step in and grade the road, and after some time, when the rain comes, it gets bad again.
Ugochi Dickson, another resident of the community said that rather than let it waste away, she often eats everything she gets from the farm with her children in the absence of customers.
Vincent Chukwuemeka, a motorcyclist who plies the road, said that the situation has increased the cost of the fair to the community. According to him, distances that used to be covered with N500 now cost N1,500.
Vincent Chukwuemeka speaking to TheInvestigator.
Okorafor said that the community feels cheated and betrayed. “Kalu made us a promise during the election, now, we don’t know what the problem is and why the contractor has not come back to finish what he started,” he said.
Who Exactly Handled The Project?
Amid concerns about the abandonment and quality of work done, there is the question of what company exactly handled the project. Findings by TheInvestigator show that the project may have been subcontracted.
Information on the signboard containing details of the project in the community showed that it was attracted by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and handled by Nuk International resources limited, registered on July 1, 2021, with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as the awarding agency.
Signboard shows details of the contract.
However, available information on the website of the Govt Spend platform, which tracks and analyses Federal Government spending and the Open Treasury Portal shows that African Plus Limited was awarded the project.
The information showed that N39 million (39,191,098) was paid to the company as 30% mobilization for the project on 30, November 2022- a year before the contractor came to the site. This fuels the belief that the project, with a contract sum of over N130 million, must have been delayed by the senator who wanted to use it for campaign purposes and thereafter, abandon it. 0228041001 was the payment code and Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute – Lagos was the awarding agency handling the project.
A check on the public search portal of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) database shows that African Plus Limited registered on October 4, 2002, and is inactive. Inactive companies are registered entities that fail to file their annual returns with the commission. Nuk International Resources Limited was captured as active.
Nuk International Resources Limited has as one of its directors, Mascot Uzor Kalu, who findings show is the younger brother to Senator Kalu, who attracted the project. Under the Procurement Act 2007, it is unethical to award a contract to someone who may have special dealings or influence with the procuring entity. Part 1 (5a) of the Act describes it as conflict of interest which means “where a person has a direct or indirect interest in or relationship with a bidder that is or may be reasonably perceived to be unethical due to that person’s influence or ability to affect the procurement process.”
Mascot has also served as a former Abia State Chief of Staff in Abia state to former governor, Theodore Orji, governorship candidate of the Action Peoples Party (APP) in 2023 and Candidate of the All-Progressives Congress, APC for the bye-election for Aba North & South Federal Constituency in Abia State in 2020. Other directors on the company include; Dr Mrs Molly U. Kalu, Johnson O. Uzor and Micheal O. Uzor.
Contractor Failed To Listen To The Community
Okoroafor told TheInvestigator that the community had shown the contractor the exact location where to construct the bridge to ensure that it serves its purpose of controlling water flow from the stream when they arrived in Elu in 2023.
“We own the community and know what is necessary, but they asked us not to worry and that after their work, everything will be fine,” he recalled. “But barely five months after the bridge was constructed, it started developing cracks and falling away after it rained,” he lamented.
He said that water coming from the location they had suggested regularly overflows on top of the bridge. Now, whenever residents cross the bridge, their hearts beat for fear that it might fall. The centre of the bridge is already sinking. They say the old one is stronger now.
This raises the age-long question of the culture of contractors not always willing to collaborate with communities who are supposed to benefit from projects in the execution.
NDDC, Contractor, Senator Keep Mum
This reporter contacted all the parties involved in the Ezeukwu – Alayi Road project for their reactions to the abandonment, except Nuk International Resources Limited, whose contact details were not available online.
On Thursday, September 5, 2024, TheInvestigator sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with specific requests for the details of the contract, including the value, date of award, level of completion and details of the contractor. However, at the time of this report, no response was received.
This reporter also sent an email to African Plus Limited on Friday, September 6 2024 and a reminder on September 11, 2024, with questions about whether it was aware of the project for which payment was made to the company. This was after the contact available on its website failed to connect.
This reporter also reached out to Senator Kalu, via email on Thursday, September 5, 2024, and a reminder on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, after several calls to his line failed to connect. However, there was no response received at the time of this publication.
Expert Wade’s In
Vahyala Kwaga, Senior research and policy analyst at Budgit, a Nigerian civil organization said that it is worrying that fiscal transparency as regards the utilisation of funds and the implementation of public works is not done in a systematic way in Nigeria.
Reacting to the specific impact of the abandoned project on agriculture, he said “Whether you look at agriculture, fast-moving consumer goods or services; there is a net loss in naira terms occasioned by not having that connectivity that you can measure for every day.”
Speaking further, he said, “If you add to that what the Senator would have done in agriculture, you can again quantify it. It’s because we don’t often measure these losses in naira and kobo, that’s why politicians get away with being irresponsible and the executive believes it owes no duty to them.”
TheInvestigator produced this story through its Environmental and Accountability Reporting (EAR) project with support from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting and the MacArthur Foundation.