The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has raised concerns over what it described as politicisation of empowerment projects in Nigeria.

ICPC also revealed that empowerment programmes had become significant conduits for embezzlement and mismanagement of public funds.

This was revealed in the Phase VI report of the constituency and executive projects tracking exercise, which was released by the commission on Thursday.

A total of 1721 government-funded projects with a total value of N284, 602,881,868.57 were tracked during the exercise which spanned from November 2023 to May 2024.

In the report, the ICPC identified numerous instances where empowerment items, which are intended for poverty alleviation and to support the most vulnerable, were procured but hoarded by project facilitators for potential use in political campaigns.

The report added that of the total tracked projects, 26.1 per cent—or 449 projects—were categorised as empowerment initiatives, amounting to over N35.5 billion in contract awards.

The report partly read, “Empowerment items are meant to be distributed to intended beneficiaries to empower them or to serve as poverty alleviation items. These items were procured but hoarded by the project facilitators possibly for electoral campaign activities.

“Large-scale soft/fluid projects and empowerment projects as major conduits for siphoning public resources: Empowerment/soft projects deserve special attention in this report in view of their increasing propensity within the budget as more project sponsors now prefer to embed such projects for execution in the budget.

“In the course of Phase VI project tracking, it was discovered that the aggregate number of empowerment projects tracked amounts to 449 empowerment projects (26.1% of the total tracked projects), while the aggregate sum/value of contract award on empowerment projects is N35,585,340,728.91.

“In all the shenanigans found in the course of tracking empowerment projects, contractors, project facilitators as well as the executing agencies staff cannot be excused of gross connivance.

The ICPC further revealed that in agencies such as the North East Development Commission and the Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission, empowerment items were handed over to stakeholders instead of directly reaching the intended recipients.

Some retirees in Lagos State have said they have not been paid their pensions for about six months by the African Alliance Insurance Plc.

According to them, the insurance firm has not been reachable for months.

Saturday PUNCH reported on September 7 that the pensioners haven’t paid their pensions since January 2024.

Meanwhile, the National Insurance Commission has directed the insurance company to settle all outstanding customers’ claims and submit a turnaround plan for addressing their challenges.

In August, the insurance company’s Executive Director (Technical), Wasiu Amao, said the firm was working on the turnaround plan as directed by the NIC.

Recently, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, stated that the commission would intensify its focus on monitoring activities within Nigeria’s insurance industry over issues of fraud.

Speaking with Saturday PUNCH, a retiree, Omotayo Clement, who retired from the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, said he couldn’t afford to treat his ailing wife because his benefits had not been paid.

“I have been expecting them (African Alliance Insurance) to pay for more than six months now. We don’t have any reasons why they have not paid. Maybe they thought we had died,” Clement lamented.

Another retiree from the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Solomon Oyedele, said things had been tough for him.

“The insurance company has not paid us for months; there is nothing we’re enjoying at the moment. There are a lot of us who are suffering and the government hasn’t said anything about it till now. We are just tired,” he stated.

However, all efforts by our correspondent to get the African Alliance Insurance Plc to speak on the matter proved abortive. Calls put across to the company were neither answered nor returned.

Also, emails and text messages sent were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.

The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, had not also responded to calls and messages from Saturday PUNCH as of press time.

Credit: PUNCH

Again, vandals have attacked and caused significant disruption to the ongoing repair works on the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV line, the Transmission Company of Nigeria has reported.

The fresh attacks, which occurred on November 19, 2024, affected Towers 29 to 31 and resulted in the theft of approximately one-third of the conductor.

The latest incident is the third act of vandalism on the same transmission line in four months.

The TCN General Manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, who announced the development through a statement on Friday in Abuja, called on the public to support efforts by the company to address the criminal activities targeting power infrastructure.

The statement read, “The Transmission Company of Nigeria regrets to report that its Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV line, which is currently under repair due to previous vandalism, was again targeted by vandals on November 19, 2024.

“The attack, which affected towers 29 to 31, resulted in the theft of approximately one-third of the conductor.”

The company further stated that it had started repairs after an inspection conducted by the General Manager of the Port Harcourt Region, Emmanuel Akpa, to ascertain the level of damage.

It also said local vigilantes had been engaged at Ula Ikata in Ahoada East Local Government Area to secure the site until repairs were completed.

The statement read, “The team of TCN engineers led by the General Manager of the Port Harcourt Region, Emmanuel Akpa, has inspected the site. Preliminary findings indicate that the incident occurred at night.

“In an attempt to prevent further theft while repair arrangements are being made, local security has been engaged at Ula Ikata in Ahoada East LG to secure the site until repairs are completed. Additionally, the line will be energised from the Ahoada end as a preventive measure.

“Efforts to replace the stolen 250mm conductor are currently underway. Despite challenges posed by difficult terrain and flooding, the restringing of the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV line is approximately 85 per cent complete.”

Earlier in November, vandals also attacked transmission towers in the Okada and Ofosu communities along the 330kV Benin-Egbin and Benin-Omotosho transmission lines. A total of 31 towers were affected.