Abandoned and substandard projects across Nigeria remain a pressing concern, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has said, calling for stronger oversight in public procurement.

Musa Aliyu, ICPC chairman, spoke on Tuesday at a workshop for directors and heads of procurement in ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs). Represented by the commission’s secretary, Clifford Oparaodu, Aliyu highlighted infractions uncovered during ICPC’s project-tracking exercises. The workshop coincided with the 2025 United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day.

“Public procurement represents the critical juncture where policy meets practice — where budgets either translate into tangible projects or disappear into private pockets,” Aliyu said. He noted that procurement accounts for 10 to 25 percent of Nigeria’s GDP, making it a prime target for corrupt practices.

Aliyu listed persistent abuses fueling project abandonment, including contract splitting, over-invoicing inflated by up to 300 percent, phantom contracts, substandard execution, collusion between contractors and sponsors’ aides, and projects funded multiple times under different names.

Poor supervision and manipulation of procurement processes, he said, often result in incomplete or non-functional projects despite full budgetary allocations. The ICPC chairman highlighted the commission’s Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI), launched in 2019, as a response to systemic project abuse. CEPTI revealed structural failings such as projects sited on private properties, execution by personal companies, round-tripping of projects, and lack of proper needs assessments.

“Currently, the commission, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Works, is tracking road projects across all 36 states and the FCT, with a total contract sum of N36 trillion,” Aliyu said.

While the Public Procurement Act 2007 provides a legal framework for transparency, compliance remains weak, particularly at sub-national levels. Aliyu commended recent reforms by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and called for the implementation of e-procurement, stronger political will, proper funding, capacity building, and effective change management.

He also urged lawmakers to strengthen oversight, review procurement laws, support the creation of a special crimes court, and ensure adequate funding for anti-corruption agencies. “We cannot fight billion-naira corruption with million-naira budgets,” he said. “Corruption thrives in darkness; let us flood the system with light.”

Adebowale Adedokun, BPP director-general, reaffirmed that robust procurement oversight is central to Nigeria’s anti-corruption agenda. He noted the federal government’s approval of a new procurement policy enabling the prosecution of contractors delivering substandard work, describing it as a historic step toward accountability.

“Procurement audits must become routine if we are to curb losses, wastages, and abandoned projects,” he said. “Delays, insecurity, and collapsed infrastructure occur because Nigerians are denied fair business opportunities. Corruption will resist, but adherence to good governance, systems, and processes can win the battle.”

Samson Duna, director-general of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), added that ICPC’s involvement has reshaped the way MDAs handle procurement and project monitoring.