ICYMI: N17tn abandoned projects debacle

FOR years, Nigeria has become a vault of abandoned projects, big and small. The abandoned projects scattered across Nigeria have exacerbated the country’s chequered infrastructure development trajectory. Contrary to the lofty promises accompanying many of the now-abandoned projects, the remains are monuments of shame and wasted resources. This is a testament to Nigeria’s perennial underdevelopment.

The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria says the total value of abandoned projects in Nigeria is N17 trillion. This is obvious. The CIPMN registrar, Henry Mbadiwe, listed poor project planning, poor budgetary allocation, an inefficient legal system, corruption, and weak institutions as reasons for this.

A committee set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 said that about 63 per cent of the projects initiated after Nigeria’s independence had been abandoned. The committee uncovered that the Federal Government abandoned 11,866 projects.

The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors estimated the country’s abandoned projects at around 56,000. The federal and state governments have played ignoble roles in turning Nigeria into a graveyard of roads, bridges, housing projects, white elephant airports, and other economically relevant projects.

Despite gulping $8 billion, the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited has been abandoned by successful governments since 1978, thereby truncating the country’s industrialisation. Because of this, the country spends $4 billion on steel imports annually.

A report by the NDDC revealed that about 1,587 projects valued at N612.4 billion have been terminated or abandoned in the Niger Delta.

The 3,050MW Mambilla Power Project, conceived in 1972, and the 700MW Zungeru hydropower project, have yet to materialise.

Many dams that should have bolstered power generation remained either abandoned or underutilised. The Ikere Gorge Dam, with a 565-million-cubic-metre water reservoir, in the Iseyin LGA of Oyo State, has been abandoned. Its turbines, imported during the late Shehu Shagari administration, are gathering dust.

It is the same story at the 9MW hydropower station at the Oyan Dam in Ogun State. The three Oyan Dam turbines inaugurated in 1983 have never generated electricity. Meanwhile, according to a July 2020 report from the World Bank, 47 per cent (about 97 million) of Nigerians are entirely cut off from the national power grid.

Travelling has become hellish due to a plethora of abandoned roads. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway reconstruction has not been completed after 20 years, and the Ibadan-Ife, Ife-Ilesa, Benin-Auchi-Okene-Abuja, and Port Harcourt-Aba-Owerri-Enugu roads are a death trap. The East-West Road has suffered consistent neglect. A former Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, left behind many abandoned roads and flyovers, making lives unbearable for many Ogun border communities.

In May 2023, a Federal High Court ordered the government to account for the $460 million spent on the failed Abuja CCTV project.

The abandoned Rivers monorail and the Tinapa free trade zone in Cross River cost Nigeria multibillion naira in losses.

The 2019 Global Competitive Index Report ranked Nigeria 130th out of 141 economies surveyed for quality infrastructure facilities. The World Bank reports a massive infrastructure deficit with total infrastructure stock amounting to 30 per cent of GDP. This falls short of the international benchmark of 70 per cent it set.

Governments must trace these projects, carry out reassessments, and resuscitate viable ones. The contractors behind the abandoned projects should be investigated and prosecuted if found wanting. Money paid for contracts that were not done should be recovered. Infrastructure projects/ contracts should not be politicised to reduce politically induced abandonment.

The current situation where the recurrent component of the budget is bigger than the capital votes is unpalatable. The Federal Government must reduce the cost of governance to free up more funding for capital projects. Contract over-inflation should be arrested.

The state and local governments should wake up and attend to the components of the rundown infrastructure in their domains.