The ICPC has commenced tracking of Federal Government-funded projects worth more than N1 billion across Osun State to promote accountability, transparency and value for money.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has commenced the tracking of Federal Government-funded projects worth more than N1 billion across Osun State.
The exercise is aimed at determining whether the projects are being implemented according to approved specifications and ensuring that public funds deliver value to citizens.
The ICPC tracking team lead, Mrs Mary Oke, disclosed this on Wednesday in Osogbo, saying the exercise would cover all three senatorial districts of the state — Osun Central, Osun East and Osun West.
According to Oke, the projects under review include road construction, solar-powered streetlights, skill acquisition and empowerment programmes.
The exercise will also cover grants and intervention programmes targeted at vulnerable groups, including widows, persons with disabilities and elderly citizens.
Other projects to be tracked include the construction of community halls and the renovation of community libraries.
Oke said the exercise formed part of the ICPC’s mandate to promote accountability and transparency in the implementation of government-funded projects.
“The ICPC is in another phase of its constituency project tracking exercise in the state,” she said.
She explained that the exercise would involve assessing the status of selected projects to determine their level of implementation and ensure that public resources were judiciously utilised to provide quality infrastructure and services.
The ICPC has operated its Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI) as a mechanism for monitoring federally funded projects and improving transparency in project delivery. The Commission says the initiative is designed to monitor projects from inception to completion, investigate fraudulent procurement practices and pursue recoveries where projects are inflated, abandoned or poorly executed.
The Commission’s tracking programme has previously uncovered project implementation challenges while also compelling contractors to return to abandoned sites. ICPC reported that its project-tracking exercises between 2019 and 2022 covered 3,485 projects and resulted in contractors returning to sites to complete projects valued at more than N45 billion.
Oke called on relevant stakeholders, particularly community members and civil society organisations, to support the exercise by providing information that could assist the commission in evaluating the projects.
“The exercise, which includes assessing the status of various constituency projects, is also to ensure that public resources are judiciously utilised to deliver quality infrastructure and services to citizens,” she said.
She urged communities to protect completed projects against vandalism, stressing that citizens also had a responsibility to safeguard public facilities provided through government-funded interventions.
Oke said the involvement of local communities was important because residents are often best positioned to provide information about the actual status, quality and utilisation of projects located within their communities.
The latest exercise in Osun reinforces the ICPC’s broader effort to use project tracking as a preventive anti-corruption measure. In a recent update, the Commission disclosed that Phase 7 of its Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative had covered approximately 1,500 projects valued at N610 billion nationwide.
The Osun exercise is expected to provide the commission with information on the implementation status of the selected Federal Government projects while helping to identify projects requiring intervention, completion or further investigation.
Oke reiterated that the ultimate objectives of the tracking exercise were to strengthen accountability, promote transparency, ensure value for money and improve the quality of public infrastructure and services delivered to citizens.
Visit GMTNewsng for more news stories.
