The Federal Government of Nigeria has awarded at least N1.4 billion to the Obudu Multipurpose Dam construction in Cross River State since 2012, but the dam remains an uncompleted project.

On Thursday, Tracka, a platform tracking government projects across Nigeria, reported that Macado-Mould Engineering Ltd. had received N11.5 million from the federal government in August 2023 to complete an irrigation project in the dam. One year later, Macado-Mould Engineering Ltd. had not completed the project.

In August 2023, N11.5m was paid to Macado-mould Engr Ltd for the Construction of Obudu Multi Purpose Dam/Irrigation Project, Obudu, Cross River state. We tracked and report that this project has not been done. The dam used to be a source of revenue generation through water… pic.twitter.com/PucSUmVHfI— Tracka (@TrackaNG) August 22, 2024

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EQ dug deeper and discovered that it was not the first time a contractor would be getting paid for the Obudu Multipurpose Dam project.

About N46 million was allocated to the construction of the multipurpose dam in 2016, as a new project under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

According to the 2016 budget implementation report, the ministry spent 100% of the 2016 budget, meaning it disbursed the N46 million allocated for the construction of Obudu Multipurpose Dam.

YEARAMOUNT (Naira)201646,664,674201730,000,000201824,000,000201960,000,000202041,800,000202156,461,500202246,992,143202314,785,048202430,000,000A table of all the amounts allocated to the dam at different points.

In 2012, the Federal Government awarded a N1.165 billion contract to Consolidated Construction Limited (CCL) to rebuild the dam after a flooding incident damaged it, about seven years earlier.

Furthermore, the Federal Government under the same ministry allocated a total of N303.8 million to continue the construction from 2017 through to 2024. It is however uncertain if these monies were disbursed. The ministry did not achieve a 100% budget performance across these fiscal years.

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In 2023, the House of Representatives mandated its Committee on Water Resources to investigate why the contract and the project were abandoned. But EQ could not find reports of a resolution by the committee on the same matter.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a project awarded by the Federal Government has been abandoned.

EQ reported on August 15, how N398.8m was disbursed for three local government roads in Abia North but was mismanaged by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia North. The projects were subsequently abandoned.
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