By Abdulkarim Ibrahim
The House of Representatives has passed a bill for the establishment of the National Independent Project Monitoring Agency (NIPMA) to tackle the issue of abandoned and inflated public projects in Nigeria. The bill, sponsored by Chinedu Martins, aims to provide independent oversight of federally funded projects.
The proposed law seeks to ensure that public projects are executed to standard, within budget, and delivered on schedule. The agency would track and report on all capital projects nationwide, detect inflated costs early, and save Nigeria billions of naira annually through effective monitoring and evaluation.
The lawmaker behind the bill criticized the current framework, where ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) both award contracts and monitor their implementation. Martins described this arrangement as inherently defective and argued that an independent agency is needed to provide real-time oversight.
Martins emphasized that the proposed NIPMA would complement existing institutions such as the Bureau of Public Procurement and the Office of the Auditor-General. The agency would provide on-the-ground oversight, ensuring that projects are executed as planned and that any issues are identified and addressed promptly.
The lawmaker noted that despite the large sums of money appropriated for capital projects each year, the results are often disheartening. He argued that the establishment of NIPMA would help to address this issue and ensure that public projects are delivered efficiently and effectively.
The bill has passed its second reading and will now undergo further scrutiny before being passed into law. If established, NIPMA is expected to play a crucial role in ensuring that public projects are executed to standard and that the country’s resources are used efficiently.
He said: “You will agree with me that, year after year, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria presents an Appropriation Bill to this Honourable House, detailing capital expenditures running into trillions of naira for the execution of developmental projects across the country.
“These projects are domiciled in various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and implemented by contractors who are issued letters of award in accordance with the procedures outlined in the Public Procurement Act of 2007.
“However, Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, the reality on ground paints a distressing picture. Across the country, we encounter the scars of abandoned, substandard, or poorly executed projects by MDAs. This is not only wasteful; it is unacceptable. One of the major contributors to this failure is the absence of an independent, transparent, and credible monitoring system in the execution of projects by MDAs.
“Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, you will agree with me that the same MDAs that award these contracts are also the same MDAs responsible for monitoring the execution of the same projects.
“This arrangement is inherently defective. As the saying goes, you cannot be a judge in your own case. This model of self-supervision breeds inefficiency, fosters compromise, and enables contractors to cut corners, which is a major reason for the numerous abandoned projects, while billions of naira remain unaccounted for,” he said.
The lawmaker said it is in response to such glaring governance vacuum that he is sponsoring the bill for the establishment of NIPMA to serve as a statutory institution solely mandated to monitor, track, and report on the implementation status of all federally funded projects across the country.
He said creating the agency would generate employment opportunities for engineers, auditors, quantity surveyors, data analysts, and other professionals, adding that it will also stimulate local economies in project-hosting communities.
“Effective monitoring will detect inflated project costs early and ensure value for money, saving the nation billions of naira annually. Citizens will regain trust in government when they see that public funds are being transparently and judiciously utilized.
“When infrastructure projects are properly implemented, they catalyze commerce, attract investment, and promote national development, thereby expanding the economy and reducing poverty.
“Mr. Speaker and Honourable Colleagues, should this Bill be passed into law, the National Independent Project Monitoring Agency will not conflict with existing institutions such as the Bureau of Public Procurement or the Office of the Auditor-General. Rather, it will complement them by addressing the urgent need for real-time, on-the-ground monitoring of capital projects.
“This Bill is timely, necessary, and ultimately in the best interest of the Nigerian people. Therefore, I respectfully urge this Honourable House to lend its full support to this vital legislative proposal to be allowed to be read the second time, to ensure that resources appropriated by this House genuinely serve the people of Nigeria,” he added