Why Nigeria has 19,000 abandoned projects - Emeka Eze

The Senate Committee on Procurement was on Thursday told that Nigeria presently has 19,000 abandoned projects spread across the country.

Speaking at a public hearing on amendment to the Procurement Act 2007 organized by the committee in Abuja, the immediate past Director-General of the Bureau for Public Procurement, BPP, Emeka Eze said that nonpayment for certificates of work done was responsible for the situation.

He said that for efficient service delivery among  agencies of government involved in procurement and disposal of public assets, there was a need to merge the Bureau for Public Procurement, BPP; Bureau for Public Enterprise, BPE, and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, into one strong commission.

“It is my humble opinion that now that the nation’s resources are dwindling, the right thing to do is for the legislature to be courageous enough and merge all the three agencies involved in procurement and disposal of public assets into a strong commission. I want to assure that the nation will be better for it if BPE, BPP and ICRC are merged," he said.

In a similar development, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, NIQS in its presentation at the public hearing, called for the synchronization of project funding with project cycle to help avoid project abandonment and ensure continuity of projects up till completion.