Ebonyi Awards ₦8.6Billion Overhead Bridge Contract To Company Registered One Month Before Bidding, With Links To Losing Bidder

A review by SaharaReporters of the Ebonyi State Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) portal has revealed that the state government awarded a contract worth ₦8.608 billion to a company that was only four months old at the time.

The contract, awarded on August 25, 2024, went to Real Aggregate Engineering Limited, which was incorporated on March 13, 2024.

The contract covers the construction of an overhead bridge and underpass at Vanco Junction in the Abakaliki Local Government Area.

Details on the portal show that the advertisement for the bid was published on April 15, 2024, just one month and two days after the company was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

The tender period started on April 15, 2024, and ended on May 14, 2024.

This means the company bid for the ₦8.6 billion contract just one month after its registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

According to details published on the Ebonyi State government’s OCDS portal, another company, Oke Ogirima Company Limited, also submitted a bid for the contract.

However, a review of the ownership of both Oke Ogirima Company Limited, which lost the bid, and Real Aggregate Engineering Limited, which won it, has raised concerns about possible irregularities in the bidding process.

The two directors listed for Real Aggregate Engineering Limited by the CAC are "Nwome Ijeoma Rita" and "Nwodom Uchenna".

A review of the directors of Oke Ogirima Company Limited shows that two individuals were listed: "Nwodom Okechukwu Peter" and "Nwome Philomena Eunice".

The Ebonyi State government published the contact information of the contractor/supplier on its website. SaharaReporters subjected this contact to verification using the technology tool Truecaller. The result revealed the name "Oke Nwodom"—a name not associated with any director of the company that won the contract, Real Aggregate Engineering Limited.

However, the name closely resembles "Okechukwu Nwodom", a director of the company that lost the bid.

Earlier, SaharaReporters flagged the names of the directors of the two companies that bid for the contract, raising serious questions about their relationship.

What the Law Says

Section 21 of the Ebonyi State Public Procurement Law of 2020 states that contracts must be awarded through open competitive bidding, "in a manner which is transparent, timely and equitable for ensuring accountability."

It further mandates that contracts should be awarded in a manner that promotes "competition, economy and efficiency."

The procurement law also stipulates that bidding companies must not be in arrears of taxes, charges, pensions, or social insurance contributions. It remains unclear how a company that was only two months old at the time of bidding was able to fulfil these legal conditions.

Additionally, the law requires bidders to declare any relationships with other companies or parties participating in the bidding process.

It is also unclear how a two-month-old company would meet the legal requirements for technical knowledge or expertise necessary to carry out such a substantial contract.

SaharaReporters earlier reported that the Ebonyi State government awarded over N3 billion contracts to Governor Francis Nwifuru's brother-in-law within two years of registration. The company was registered a few weeks before Nwifuru's inauguration as governor.

When contacted, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information, Jude Okpor, told SaharaReporters that there is nothing wrong with awarding contracts to the younger brother of the first lady.

"There is nothing wrong in the younger brother of the first lady getting contracts, he is a citizen of Nigeria. Ebonyi has been given clean bill of health by reputable organisations for its procurement methods," he told SaharaReporters.

He further argued that the state's processes for awarding contracts are transparent.

"We do e-procurement and it is transparent," he told SaharaReporters.

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