Nearly six months after the Daily Episode reported on the abandoned landslide, erosion, and flooding project in the Zagezzagi area of a Rigasa community in Kaduna State’s Igabi local government area, contractors have resumed work on the abandoned project site.
According to our reports on August 5th last year, “Abandoned Project Triggers Flooding and Erosion To Consume Houses In Kaduna Community”
Daily Episode learned that contractors have resumed work on the abandoned project site, but there is no information available about the government agency or construction companies executing the projects, as the engineers failed to give their identity to our correspondent or mount the project specifications sign.
It will be recalled that, while serving as Minister of Environment, the current Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammad Mahmood, sent delegations with teams of engineers to inspect the dangerous situations in October 2019, promising to implement the life-threatening environmental disaster.
Landslides and flooding have forced many residents in the community to vacate their houses and become environmental migrants.
However, for over a decade, residents of the Zagezzagi area in the Rigasa community have suffered from wastewater pollution, access to link roads, and certainly from persistent flooding.
Residents pleaded for quality construction.
The residents jubilated as they hoped their longtime suffering would come to an end once the project was completed.
While intervening with some residents in the community, Malam Sadiq Muhammad expressed concern over poor equipment used by the contractors and lamented uncertainty about the quality of the ongoing projects by the yet-to-be-identified construction company.
He added that the environment was excavated by the contractors who widened the gully heads in December 2020, but despite the risks associated with abandoning the projects, they vacated the site with no further explanation from the government or the unknown construction company.
While Bilatu Abubakar, a woman who recently lost five rooms in a landslide, hopes the projects will continue until they are completed, she also urged the government to keep its promise as they are vulnerable to climate change and environmental disasters.
Per the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), there are approximately 56,000 abandoned projects as of August 2021. The cost of Nigeria’s abandoned projects was expected to be N12 trillion.
Although Governments at all levels underfunded projects or duplicated them due to corruption and lack of synergy among the government agencies in the country.
To curtail such occurrences, the Nigerian anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), and its sister agency, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICCPC), usually cross-check to ensure zero malpractice in budgetary and funding of projects in the country.