FG Didn’t Take Procurement Rules Seriously. N14bn Contract Mess Followed, Then It Blamed Contractor

Minister of Works David Umahi had on August 28 ordered the arrest of the managing director of Hartland Nigeria Limited over the contractor’s failure to complete an 11-kilometre section of the Benin-Onitsha Expressway despite receiving about N14 billion.

However, FIJ can report that this is not the Federal Government’s first rodeo with Hartland as regards commitment to project execution. Between 2018 and 2024, the company got some contracts, many of which eventually made it to the news because of delays or total abandonment.

Nigeria’s Public Procurement Act 2007 contains a provision specifically dealing with the contractors’ performances in previous projects to make contract awards less of a roulette for procuring entities.

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Section 16(8)(b) provides that a supplier, contractor or consultant may have its bid excluded where, during the three years before the commencement of procurement proceedings, it “failed to perform or to provide due care in performance of any public procurement”.

FIJ documents, in the next few paragraphs, some of Hartland’s government contracts and what subsequently happened to some of them.

JULY 2018 — BENDE-AROCHUKWU-OHAFIA ROAD

In June 2018, the Federal Government awarded Hartland Nigeria Limited a N5.49 billion contract for the 19.29-kilometre Section I of the Bende-Arochukwu-Ohafia Road, with an original completion date of August 2, 2020. A Federal Ministry of Works status report recorded the project at 4.5% completion at the time, although the contractor had just mobilised.

By 2019, The ICIR found that the road had been abandoned. A company official told the newspaper that the road would be completed before 2021.

In January 2025, however, Ibe Okwara Osonwa (who represents Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency) brought a matter about the F107 road before the House of Representatives after a December 22, 2024, accident in which a trailer overturned on Nmuri Access and killed seven people.

Osonwa told the House that the N5.49 billion Hartland Setraco contract had been awarded in 2018, that the Federal Executive Council had subsequently approved another N12 billion for the project, and that the road and Nmuri Access had deteriorated despite the spending.

The House consequently directed its Committees on Works, Anti-Corruption, Public Accounts and Public Procurement to investigate the activities and funding of Hartland Setraco. It also urged the Inspector General of Police to investigate the accident and consider charging the contractor with corporate manslaughter.

2019 — UMUAHIA-IKOT EKPENE ROAD

In October 2021, lawyer Onyekachi Monday Ubani, then chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law, wrote to late Muhammadu Buhari that Hartland Nigeria Limited/Raycon Company Nigeria Limited had abandoned the Umuahia–Ikot Ekpene project. In his October 1 letter, Ubani said the contractors had stopped work because of an alleged failure by the Federal Government to release funds.

In February 2022, Hartland said it had returned to the site. Managing director Fayez Khalaf said that the Federal Government had released funds, including outstanding amounts, and that the company was mobilising equipment to the construction site.

He said the immediate priority was the 10km Umuahia–Oboro section, which the company intended to rehabilitate during the dry season. The Federal Government had re-approved the project for funding through the NNPC Road Tax Credit Scheme.

But by April 2023, the project was still not completed. The Federal Government attributed the delay to rising construction material costs and late release of funds. Project engineer Hashim Yissan said the roughly 49km road was only 12% complete, representing about six kilometres. The contract was awarded in 2019 for about N13.3 billion.

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There is a much more favourable government assessment from the 2023–2024 Federal Ministry of Works scorecard, however. The ministry listed the same Umuahia–Umudike project as 74.57% complete. It said that Hartland/Raycon was “fully mobilized to site and making appreciable progress”. The ministry describes the project as 48.92km long.

AUGUST 2026 — N14BN BENIN-ONITSHA ROAD 

On August 28, Works Minister David Umahi ordered the arrest of Hartland Nigeria Limited’s managing director over the company’s handling of an 11-kilometre section of the Benin-Onitsha Expressway.

According to Umahi, the Federal Government had paid Hartland about N14 billion and agreed that the money would be used to complete the 11-kilometre-long section from Summit Junction to Head Bridge, including channelisation and hydraulic structures.

The minister said Hartland had completed only about 40 per cent of the agreed work. Umahi subsequently directed ministry officials to review Hartland’s payment records and certificates across its projects and ordered moves to recover money paid to the company.

WHAT SECTION 16(8)(B) SAYS

The Public Procurement Act does not state that every contractor whose project experiences delay is automatically barred from future government contracts.

Section 16(8)(b) deals specifically with a contractor who, during the three years before procurement proceedings, has failed to perform or failed to exercise due care in performing a public procurement.

The Act states that, where such a situation is established by the procuring entity or the Bureau of Public Procurement, the bidder may have its bid or tender excluded from that procurement proceeding.