In 2024, the Ebonyi State Government awarded billions of naira worth of contracts for the construction of 12-classroom storey buildings in secondary schools across the state. The contracts, according to details on the state Open Contracting Portal, numbered 35, with each awarded at the cost of N172 million, totalling N6.020 billion.
This came after the state budget and fiscal documents revealed that, in the same year, the government, through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, spent N1.8 billion on a 39-classroom project for three schools in each local government area.
Just like the primary schools, findings reveal that many of the contracts for the secondary schools were awarded in three schools per local government. Available data on the state OCDS portal revealed that the contracts awarded for secondary school construction marked the first time since 2020 that the state had undertaken mass contract awards targeting secondary schools.
However, this investigation raises red flags over the absence of a competitive process in contract awards and the use of ‘front companies’ by winning bidders, which puts the transparency of the contractual process and eventual execution into question.
