Society of engineers: There are 56,000 abandoned government projects across Nigeria

The Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) says many contractors are unable to complete projects due to poor budget performance and failure to carry along community leaders.

Olufemi Babalola, a member of NSE, said this while delivering the 27th Arokodare memorial public lecture on Monday at the University of Ibadan.

Babalola attributed poor infrastructural development in Nigeria to the failure of government to consult with NSE representatives when preparing budget on infrastructure.

He blamed poor synergy for the cases of duplication of projects awarded by different ministries in many parts of Nigeria.

He said: “The capital budget arising from development fund described in section 318 to 324 of the financial regulations of Nigeria is of major importance to us as engineering professionals who are concerned with the designing, building and maintenance of public infrastructures. As engineers, we are aware that accuracy of plan enables smooth running of implementation.

“We have seen situation where government sited gigantic projects and you notice that over the years, these projects are found isolated. We also find ourselves in a situation whereby different ministries of same government vote fund for same functional elements of infrastructural project.

“In the past, engineers designed projects for government to fund but today, government comes up with a budget and tells engineers to prepare design that will suit the budget. To me, such project is dead on arrival.

“In 2019, Nigeria voted only 24 percent of N8.9 trillion budget on capital infrastructure out of which only N1.2 trillion, representing 57 percent of the vote, was released. Last year, only N1.7 trillion of the N2.5 trillion, representing 33.5 percent of budget voted for capital projects was released.”

He said a survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria indicated that there are 56,000 abandoned government projects, estimated at N12 trillion across Nigeria.

Adekunle Olaoye, chairman of NSE in Ibadan, said Nigeria should stop giving responsibilities in certain fields to people who are not professionals.

He said: “If you give responsibility to the wrong person, what you get is wrong information and if you plan projects with such information, what you get is wrong result. We need to work together for the country to work.”