A Nigerian agency, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) in a clear example of contract inflation and racketeering has spent the sum of N159.745 million to renovate its Abuja office.
In the deal that was struck under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, NALDA claims to have spent N159,745,665.55 to renovate its Abuja office. An amount that has since been published on govspend.ng, a budgit platform showing government expenditures on federal projects.
NALDA has since in payment code 215013001, paid N159,745,665.55 to Isasha Investments Limited, a company that was awarded the job, registered on July 7th, 2010 with its office located at No.2A Magwamatse Road, Kaduna in North-West Nigeria.
Worse still, building professionals who spoke to MAWA Foundation said that amount is enough to build a befitting office and wondered why NALDA will spend such a huge amount of money on office renovation alone.
When MAWA Foundation sought NALDA’s explanation regarding renovating its office for N159,745,665.55, a senior official of the agency who described the action as wicked and corruption instructed MAWA to contact the procurement department for an explanation.