Abuja: The Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) has demanded the refund of over N14 billion allegedly paid to Hartland Nigeria Limited for work on the Benin-Asaba road corridor. Rev. David Ugolor, Executive Director of ANEEJ and Publisher of The Common Good Letter, made these demands at a news conference in Abuja, urging that the money be returned to the Federal Government.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Ugolor emphasized that the demands aim to ensure transparency, accountability, and recovery of public funds allegedly committed to the project. He expressed concerns over a statement by the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, that the Federal Government had paid approximately N14 billion to Hartland for the project, yet only about 40 percent of the agreed work had been completed.
Ugolor highlighted that these statements raise fundamental questions about the contract, payments, certification, and the level of work executed. He clarified that ANEEJ’s concerns are based on publicly stated facts by the minister, not on allegations.
“Our concern is that Nigerians are entitled to know exactly how N14 billion was committed, certified, paid, and accounted for,” Ugolor stated. ANEEJ’s initial demand is for the publication of all contract documents, including the original Hartland contract, any variations, and supplementary agreements, to enable Nigerians to understand the scope, cost, completion period, and performance obligations of the project.
Additionally, Ugolor called for the publication of the payment trail, including all payment certificates and details of payments made for the project. He urged the Federal Ministry of Works to disclose how much was paid, the dates of payments, the certificates against which the payments were made, and who certified and approved them.
The third demand focuses on the need for an independent technical verification of the reported 40 percent completion to ascertain whether it represents physical completion, financial completion, certified quantities, road length completed, or a combination of factors.
Ugolor also called for the publication of the status of the Advance Payment Guarantee (APG) and the recovery of public funds, emphasizing the need for transparency regarding the bank or institution that issued the guarantee, its coverage amount, expiration date, and the recovery process.
Furthermore, ANEEJ demands an investigation into the complete chain of responsibility surrounding the contract. Ugolor urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe the procurement, contract management, certification, payments, supervision, and performance of the project.
He welcomed the minister’s directive for an audit of Hartland’s payment records and certificates across its projects but insisted that the review should be conducted independently to ensure impartiality. Ugolor also called for a review of Hartland’s previous performance on Federal Government projects to determine if its performance history was considered in subsequent procurement processes.
ANEEJ has submitted petitions to various authorities, emphasizing that the Benin-Asaba road corridor is too significant to become another unresolved infrastructure issue.