By Aminu Adamu Naganye
The Federal Government of Nigeria has between 2020 and 2021 spent over N100 million only for the execution of a road project in Gwale Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano State.
The funds which were released in three tranches for the project stood at N105,364,730.97 million Naira only to Blackgold Construction Ltd to construct 2Km road and install solar-powered streetlights at Emirate Street in the Tudun Yola section of Gwale residential area.
Campus Watch investigation revealed that the project was poorly executed and the second component of the project was not accomplished on the road connecting residents of Tudun Yola to Gwarzo-Bayero University, Kano (BUK) new site road.
The 2 km asphalt road with 3-in-1 solar-powered street lights was executed under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology through Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Lagos.
The road connecting residents of Tudun Yola to Gwarzo-BUK new site road PC: Naganye
However, the investigation revealed that although the road was constructed, it is replete with potholes, gallops, and ruins barely a year after its construction; a development resident confirmed their fears of poor project execution.
The Emirate College of Nursing Science, Tudun Yola, where the road passes, recently had to fix the road close to its entrance due to its dilapidated condition.
This reporter also observed that apart from the visibly dilapidated state of the road, the drainage system linked to it at some points has already been cut off.
The road serves an important function to the area and the neighbouring communities where new settlements are springing up and business sprouting.
“If you look at the area there are schools such as Emirate College of Nursing Science and Alfijr College of Education that their students and staff as well as residents rely on to commute find this road extremely important. There is also a rice processing mill along the road,” said Kabir Isah, a resident.
For Bala Murtala, “the road constructed had significantly improved the value of properties here. People see it as a good development and the area is getting people’s attention.”
In an interaction with Mallam Musa Bako, another resident of the Tudun Yola area said the road was actually constructed but it was poorly executed and that less than one year after the execution it began to wear out.
Further investigation revealed that aside from the poorly executed project, the other component of the contract which is the installation of 3-in-1 solar street lights to illuminate the road remained un-executed despite the huge funds released to the contractor for over a year now, according to the documents obtained from www.govspend.ng.
Findings revealed that between November 2020 and March 2021, the contractors received the above-mentioned funds to purposely execute the specified projects at the designated location in Tudun Yola.
Records of payments accessed from Open Treasury Portal www.govspend.gov.ng indicated that on 10 November 2020, the sum of N19,630,440.42 was paid as a 15% mobilization fee to the contractor.
Similarly, the sums of N62, 778, 234.60, and N22, 956,055.95 were released in parts to Blackgold Construction Ltd on November 28, 2020, and March 27, 2021, respectively.
The investigation further revealed that the 3-in-1 solar-powered streetlights that, according to contract documents and payment releases, are supposed to adorn the road as part of the project are completely non-existence on the project site at Tudun Yola residential area.
“When the work started, we heard that there will be solar streetlights that will be put in place to illuminate the road. But after the construction was done, there was no streetlight. We don’t know what happened,” a resident of the area Adamu Sani said.
A staff member of the Emirate College of Health Sciences at Tudun Yola, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “This road was actually, poorly executed. It is a substandard road that shortly after the work you can see its faults manifesting.
“Look at that place close to the Emirate’s gate, it was damaged and the School has to take it upon itself to fix the problem so that its staff and students can pass seamlessly.”
Inactive status of the company
Available records from Nigeria-Check (NG-check) have shown that the company that executed the contract, Blackgold Construction Ltd is inactive and its status is unknown.
While NG-check serves as a repository for all registered companies in Nigeria, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) which is the government agency saddled with the responsibility of registering companies in Nigeria and their records also showed that Blackgold Construction Ltd is inactive and its current status remains unknown.
According to the CAC, any inactive company has not updated its records and that company has failed to comply with sections 417 – 424 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 which requires them to file and update records with the commission.
Explaining how companies become inactive, the Registrar-General of the CAC, Garba Abubakar submitted that “if they have done the right thing, the database will reflect the correct status. The unfortunate thing is that most people think when you register a company you are done with CAC.
“The law requires that you must file your annual returns every year depending on the size of the company.
“When you are filing your annual returns, you must attach your audited financial statements. Most of them (inactive) have not been doing that and any company that does not file its annual returns will be classified as inactive,” he added.
Also, section 417 stipulates that every company must make and deliver its annual returns to the CAC annually. In this case, Blackgold Construction Ltd has failed to meet this requirement to qualify for the award of the over N122 million contract by the Federal Government.
In the same vein, Blackgold Construction Ltd violated section 16 (8) (d) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 which states that: “A bidder may have its bid or tender excluded if the bidder is in arrears regarding payment of due taxes, charges, pensions or social insurance contributions unless such bidders have obtained a lawful permit in respect to allowance, the difference of such outstanding payments or payment thereof in installments.”
According to Blackgold Construction Limited records with the CAC database, was incorporated on 12 February 2009 with RC 800531 as the registration number with a physical address at Plot 814 Kaura District, Opposite Suncity Estate, Abuja.
However, all efforts to reach the contractor through the above address proved futile as it cannot be traced to the above Abuja address, and after a series of searches of the company’s name for an email address, website, or any digital identity; the results are that Blackgold Construction Limited has no digital presence.
The Campus Watch attempts to reach out to Blackgold Construction Limited for an explanation on their inactive status and apparent poor project execution were unsuccessful as the only available address, Plot 814 Kaura District, Opposite Suncity Estate, Abuja, has no company office.
FoI request to Blackgold but not submitted due to the absence of a physical and digital address, and the one sent to NBRRI
Meanwhile, the facilitating agency, NBRRI, did not reply to the freedom of information request sent to it via its emails (info@nbrri.gov.ng and enquries@nbrri.gov.ng) Lagos Office which supervised the project.
This publication is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) through Stallion Times under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by MacArthur.
