With hundreds of abandoned projects doting the landscape, the South-west region may as well qualify as one of the world’s largest abandoned construction sites. In their infrastructure infatuation, successive administrations are more interested in adding to the toll of white elephants than completing existing ones. Concerned stakeholders believe that the odd scenes of abandonment across states have shown that the business of legacy projects is too important to be left to tenured politicians alone. They opined that besides a thorough probe of waste of public funds under the guise of projects and sanctions for those complicit, the current officeholders should be held accountable for the justification and completion of every project initiated, SEYE OLUMIDE, AYODELE AFOLABI, AZEEZ OLORUNLOMERU, ROTIMI AGBOLUAJE, SHAKIRAT ADUNOLA, ADEWALE MOMOH and TIMOTHY AGBOR report.

Were there to be an award for the world’s headquarters of abandoned projects, Nigeria would surely be a major contender for such an infamous prize. Reason: One administration after the other has perfected the cunning art of initiating all shades of projects but with no genuine intention of completing the same for the benefit of the long-suffering people.
 
With immense potential in the construction industry, the country’s gradual evolution as one of the world’s biggest junkyards for abandoned projects worth billions of naira has left development experts both flustered and perplexed. 
  
Specifically, this ugly development has led to gross infrastructure deficit, poor quality of life, decades of stunted national growth, a development that stakeholders say must be nipped in the bud and complicit politicians prosecuted for perennially giving the people the short end of the stick.
   
They also stress that it is important for the country to stem the tide of project abandonment if she must not be left behind by the rest of the world as far as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are concerned. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 SDGs with the aim of “peace and prosperity for people and the planet…” 
  
Incidentally, the magnitude of project abandonment, the previous government’s laissez-faire attitude towards holding politicians accountable, and ensuring strict compliance with probity in public life have made project abandonment a national lifestyle, and the days ahead look even grimmer.
  
The chilling statistic has it that in the last 25 years of democratic rule, no fewer than 56,000 projects initiated by both the federal, and state governments and valued at N12 trillion ($2.73 billion) have been abandoned nationwide.
  
According to the most recent and last research carried out on abandoned projects in the country, by the Institute of Quantity Surveyors, in November 2022, 15,000 of these projects are situated in the South East; 11,000 in the South-South; 10,000 in the South-West; 6,000 in the North-West; 7,000 in the North Central; 5,000 in North-East, and 2,000 in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Over 10,000 of the projects scattered in all parts of the country were financed by the Federal Government.
   
Also, a report by some Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in conjunction with BudgIT, MacArthur Foundation, and Tracka, indicated that about 100 constituency projects, which some federal lawmakers initiated in 22 states are allegedly lying unattended, despite budgetary allocations being released to affected parliamentarians.
   
Another research conducted in November last year by Trustcrow Instant Escrow, an online escrow platform, has it that the initial figure of abandoned projects across the country – N12 trillion has now moved up to N17 trillion, basically due to the inflation rate and an increase in the exchange rate.
  
Despite successive administrations in the South-West states of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos, and Osun claiming to work towards reducing the number of abandoned projects to give their people a sense of belonging, no significant impact has been achieved as reflected in the zone hosting 17.86 per cent of abandoned federal projects. 

Abandoned projects, failed promises
NOTHING mirrors the brazen manner in which the political class pay deaf ears to the plight of the governed, like how they have treated projects like the multi-billion naira Agbowo Shopping Complex, constructed opposite the University of Ibadan, in Ibadan, Oyo State, which has been abandoned since the idea was conceived by the then military governor of the Western Region of Nigeria, Major General David Jemibewon (rtd).
   
The shopping complex was reportedly inaugurated on October 22, 1984, by former President Muhammadu Buhari, who was then in office as Head of State.Built over 40 years ago, the Agbowo Shopping Complex has gradually turned into a hideout for armed robbers and sundry characters. Sadly, successive military and civilian administrations have not deemed it expedient to do anything about the 10-storey facility, which has 84 shopping units, banking halls, three departmental stores, a cafeteria, a nightclub, a 540-seater theatre, and 15 grocery shops.
  
Parts of the massive building have been taken over by shrubs while mentally unstable persons also inhabit parts of it, with open defecation causing the building to stink.
  
Governor Seyi Makinde’s government awarded the remodeling and rehabilitation of the shopping complex to a contractor for N4.9 billion in late 2020, but the contract was reportedly terminated.
  
The abandoned Armed Forces Physical Health School and Games Village project in Esa-Oke, Osun State, is also an eyesore that is affecting the lives and well-being of people. Until the project started in 2007, economic activities thrived around the area as community members used the land for farming.
   
The neglect of the project according to residents of the area has allowed armed herdsmen to take over a considerable portion of the land to graze their cattle. This is currently creating crises among the herders and the community members.

  
The old Federal Government Secretariat Complex, Ikoyi, Lagos is another government edifice that is lying in waste. Abandoned in 1976 when Lagos was the capital of the country, the structure has been left to enter a derelict status. Even after it was reportedly sold to Resort International Limited (RIL) in 2006, it remains disputed and under litigation as the state has refused to enable RIL to proceed with the conversion of the property into residential apartments as this “contravened the Lagos Master Plan for the area.”
  
The Lagos State government’s sand fill of Oworonshoki Waterfront into one of the biggest transportation, tourism, and entertainment hubs in Nigeria, is also wearing the emblem of an abandoned project.  
  
The reclaiming of the 29.6-hectare site of the project was meant to improve the aesthetics and security of the environment, and also attract investments in water transportation, boosting socio-economic activities in the axis, with the provision of shopping malls and related infrastructure.
  
Almost seven years after former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode started the project, the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has looked away from it, while people around the axis are complaining about the inconveniences that the abandoned project is causing them.
   
The project was also meant to divert a lot of human and vehicular traffic away from Lagos Island and take advantage of the central location and accessibility of the proposed Oworonshoki Terminal to the Apapa Port, Ikeja Airport, and other parts of the state. Originally planned to be completed in three phases and terminated in November 2017, it is presently abandoned.
  
In Lagos, there are other abandoned state projects, which the citizens are looking up to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to complete or use his relationship with President Bola Tinubu’s government to address.
   
For instance, concerted efforts by the Federal Government to focus on the completion of dualised roads across Nigeria are yet to have any impact on the Badagry-Agbara-Abeokuta-Sokoto expressway, which has been a mirage.
  
The road was earmarked in 1970—over 50 years ago, but on many occasions, the Federal Government promised that it would complete the construction. Today, the road is still abandoned and nobody is talking about it.

  
The abandoned road is meant to connect Apapa seaports and the Seme land border, as well as one of the largest industrial hubs in the country- Agbara Industrial Estate, where both the Federal and Ogun State governments generate a large chunk of revenue yearly.
   
The two million metric tonnes Braithwaite overhead steel water tank, which was built to serve residents of Mosan Okunola LCDA, has also been abandoned since 1983.  The water facility is one of the major facilities built within the estate by the Federal Government. The Water Tank was initiated during the administration of late former President Shehu Shagari.
  
Owing to the abandonment of the project, some private organisations have attempted to unlawfully dismantle and acquire the said water tank under the guise of it being unserviceable.
  
 The site of Itori General Hospital, which was built by former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, in Ogun State, to provide quality healthcare to residents of Ewekoro area and adjoining communities, is also an eyesore having been abandoned over the years.
  
Daniel’s successor, former governor, Ibikunle Amosun throughout his eight years in office never took a second look at the hospital just like the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, is neither considering touching it.
  
The hospital, which is strategically located along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was expected to serve more than 50 communities in the Ewekoro Local Council of the state, but years after, it has become abandoned and dilapidated. Most of it is now used for cultivating cassava, and vegetable fruits.
  
A contentious 250-bed specialist hospital constructed during Ibikunle Amosun’s administration has also been abandoned by the incumbent administration.The hospital has remained unused and or completed since Governor Abiodun came on board over four years ago. This is despite the reports that over N5 billion was spent solely on its equipment.
  
The project situated at the Oke-Mosan site, is currently deteriorating while many people in the state and beyond continue to experience a dire need for healthcare facilities.
  
Still, in Ogun State, work is yet to begin on the reconstruction of the Abeokuta-Ota-Lagos Expressway, which was abandoned by the previous administration before Governor Dapo Abiodun came on board in 2019.
   
The successful completion of a project depends on adequate planning which also includes financial planning. But the increasing use of projects as bargaining chips for elections, structural conduits for self-enrichment, as well as the lack of stakeholders’ consultation in project determination, and the failure to carry out appropriate feasibility studies before embarking on them, in addition to politically conceptualised schemes have all joined forces to rob the people of dividends of democracy.
  
This also has a multiplier effect on the country’s construction industry as well as its economy. From empirical observation, lack of adequate funds, payment delay, improper project budgeting, land or legal disputes, death of the owner, and improper project estimates. Have played serious roles in the high number of uncompleted projects in the South East.
  
Other factors include poor planning and design, project managers’ incompetence, lack of project risk assessment, and others. Similar factors are prevalent with abandoned projects in other zones.
  
To mitigate the challenges of abandoned projects, the Ekiti State Government in October 2019, signed into law a bill that would prevent succeeding administrations from abandoning projects initiated by their predecessors.
  
Former governor, Kayode Fayemi, while signing the bill into law, lamented the abandonment of the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort by his predecessor, Ayo Fayose, saying, a huge resource of the state was committed to the project during the first term.
   
Fayemi, while signing the Ekiti State Transition Bill into law, said the law was aimed at checking the wanton abandonment of projects “simply because they were not initiated by the incumbent and to avoid successive governments from abandoning government projects,” he said.
 
 The former governor, when he celebrated a year in office, told reporters in 2018 during his tour of The Gifted Academy, which was constructed by his predecessor, Ayo Fayose, that abandoning projects inherited from the past administration would amount to wasting the resources of the state.
  
He disclosed that all projects left behind by Segun Oni’s administration were completed by his government, for example, some of the roads started by Oni. It was his administration that completed the Ipoti-Odo Owa-Ila Orangun Road, Otun-Osun-Iloro Road, Isan–Isan-Ilemeso Road, and also completed the House of Assembly complex.  Fayemi then embarked on the completion of 37 projects initiated by him during his first tenure.
  
But despite the law, there are still many projects yet to be completed in the state. For example, the International Cargo Airport embarked upon by Fayemi’s administration during his second term has been abandoned.
  
The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Media, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, said that although there is presidential approval for the concessions, there is no proper documentation from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approving the concessions.
  
According to Akinmade, the procedure for the concession is not complete without FEC’s Extract paper. He noted that after deliberation and approval, the FEC will issue an extract from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), transferring the road to the Ogun State Government.
  
The special adviser said that the Ogun State Government is waiting anxiously for the FEC’s nod to proceed with the project. He added that the FEC Extract is needed to raise funds for the project and also discuss with investors.
  
Commissioner for Works, Ade Akinsanya had earlier said the state had been providing palliatives to make the roughly 70 km road manageable for motorists. An Estate Surveyor and Valuers, Fisayo Alo, while speaking on the factors responsible for the abandonment of projects, said, “The major issue is finance. When funding isn’t coming as expected either from the government or the financier of the project, it will suffer a setback”.
  
He also cited unstable economy and inflation as causes of abandonment of projects, just as he mentioned legal factors. According to him, “Interests in projects may lead to litigation. Political will can also lead to projects being abandoned as well as natural factors like the sudden death or ailment of the financier. This happened mostly to private projects.”
  
Alo added that the problems of land merchandise (Omo Onile) is another challenge just as he said in most cases government and initiators of certain projects don’t carry out appropriate feasibility studies before embarking on some projects.

 
 He said: “On several occasions where appropriate feasibility study is not done before a prospective starts it may cause it to stop halfway.” He cited the case of Ajaokuta Steel Company in Kogi, which has been abandoned by successive governments. “One of the major issues impeding the Ajaokuta Steel is that the technology used when it started years back is currently obsolete.”
  
Fisayo also argued that the government is usually the major accomplice when public projects are abandoned and until it changes its attitude to project abandonment, it would be difficult to prosecute those found wanting.

Project abandonment induces loss of trust in government
INCESSANT abandonment of multi-billion-naira projects by politicians has led to the wastage of taxpayers’ money, and resources that could have been deployed for other developmental purposes. Also, communities that were expecting the completion of these projects may suffer from disruptions to their daily lives and livelihoods. This can have negative social and economic impacts on the affected communities.
  
Glaringly, when development projects are abandoned, poverty and inequality in the affected areas may be exacerbated. Ultimately, the lack of investment in infrastructure and services may also hinder economic growth and development, leading to further marginalisation of vulnerable populations.  
  
Besides the human populations, the abandonment of projects can hurt local businesses that were relying on it, as well as erode public trust in the government thereby creating a sense of disillusionment among citizens, which may ultimately lead to apathy and disengagement from the political process.  

  
Fisayo Alo, estate surveyor and valuer, agrees with these assertions when he stressed: “One of the major factors to measure the performance of any government is the number of projects that it initiated and completed while in office. When people’s plots of land, or property are acquired by a government to set up developmental projects, abandoning such projects halfway surely leads to the government suffering a trust deficit. So, the government must lead by example. Since most of the abandoned projects are man-made, it is the man that can correct them.”
  
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organisation, Afenifere, is of the view that if integrity means anything to the political class, no efforts should be spared in ending the phenomenon of project abandonment, which impugn the character of government and accelerates the loss of trust.
  
The group, therefore, called on the politicians, their accomplices in the civil service and contractors to end the conspiracy to perpetually put the people down with project abandonment.

According to the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Jare Ajayi, these unscrupulous sets of persons connive and engage in this unwholesome act of abandonment largely because of the personal benefits that they derive, or hope to derive to the detriment of the people. In the main, their actions are encapsulated in the word greed. 

Making personal gains to supplant collective gains or interests is completely anti-development. 
  
“Of course, starving the contractor of needed funds has a role to play in project abandonment. But those who do this can do so successfully due to the connivance of the key players, that is government officials and the contractor. All these would have been moderated were those concerned imbued with a sense of patriotism, he said.

  
The Afenifere leader added that “a patriotic person abhors anything that would be detrimental to the best interest of the nation. Sadly, such patriotic inclinations are very much in want among most of the players mentioned above.”
  
Terver Igor, a policy analyst insists that project abandonment will continue to thrive until stipulated deadlines for execution are adhered to. “Some contractors after parting ways with a percentage of the contract sum by way of kickbacks slow down the pace of work deliberately so that they can demand for a review. It has become the standard and must be stopped   “Some other contractors fronting for, or backed by highly placed politicians seem not to care a hoot about what happens to projects once they get their mobilisation fees. These are the types of persons that the government should prosecute to serve as a deterrent to others, as well as end this cycle of madness. If complicit contractors, politicians and civil servants are not jailed for their roles in contract abandonment, the cycle will continue.” 

Political projects, poor oversight, zero delivery
ANOTHER property developer, Oluwole Aguda, said: “Politically conceptualised projects are often engineered to create a channel of patronage for the political class regardless of whether or not they are necessary or sustainable. The need to achieve headline projects for many politicians in power creates pockets of projects that serve transient political needs, and which usually end up abandoned when changes occur in the political dynamics of the host communities. How many successors follow through with the signature projects of their predecessors?
  
“Where projects are bargaining chips for elections, we find election outcomes playing a significant role in determining progressive development of a project or otherwise.”  He however said the lack of consequences for operational failures of governance in Nigerian subnational is at the heart of abandoned projects.  

  
“Many of these abandoned projects on closer examination reveal that they are merely structural conduits for self-enrichment by the political class.
 “Another key realisation that is unmistakable is the glaring lack of stakeholder consultation and transparency in project determination, approval, and funding. Citizens wake up to projects in their neighbourhoods without consideration for such conditionalities as environmental concerns, green energy preservation, and long-term social development. The lack of consultation therefore removes a layer of accountability that could hitherto compel completion.”
   
For the Executive Director, Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Lanre Suraj, abandonment of projects is caused by abject negligence of governance and puerile disposition of political officers and civil servants.   
  
He said that corruption has become endemic to the point that some public servants and politicians only think about what they can divert into private pockets whenever a project is to be initiated.    
  
He also said the situation is rampant due to the lack of an effective oversight monitoring system. “The legislature hardly carries out oversight functions on projects embarked on by the executive, just as the executive itself and or government agencies have the time to checkmate contractors handling projects. 

Stemming proliferation of abandoned projects
SURAJ believes that if contracts are not competitively awarded and won by professionals, the fight to end the scourge of abandonment remains a fluke.According to him, “On several occasions the said contracts are awarded to cronies of those in power, to therefore monitor the contractors become an issue. On the other hand, contracts are often awarded to incompetent contractors based on sentiments. Corruption is another major reason abandoned projects littered Nigeria. When government officials awarded contracts because of what benefits and not the viability of the project itself.”    
  
He said it would be extremely difficult for any government to prosecute culprits of abandoned projects because the same government happened to be the number one culprit.  
   
To curb the menace, Suraj suggested the need for the country to have an effective procurement system that will monitor every awarded contract. He also said the various anti-corruption agencies must be involved in contracts awarded to ensure there are no under-the-table dealings, just as the media, community-based associations and NGOs must live up to their responsibilities of effectively monitoring public projects.  
  
Also making his organisation’s position known on ending the menace, Ajayi, the Afenifere publicist said that the phenomenon of project abandonment is continuing because appropriate sanctions are not meted out to those who engage in it. “The practice would not stop until the big stick is wielded,” Ajayi said. 

  
President, Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, Akin Malaolu, while commenting on the development said: “In most states of Nigeria, capital projects are either abandoned or ignored at their very inception.
  
“In Ogun State, the Cargo Airport was conceptualised by the Gbenga Daniel-led government but abandoned, and later continued by the Ibikunle Amosun-led administration, but still largely uncompleted and the continuation by Governor Dapo Abiodun is making it look like a white elephant project handled by three governors, using almost 24 years to reach completion stage.
  
“That said, the lack of political will to complete ongoing projects may have been created by leaders’ materialistic appetites to steal, to buy homes abroad, and to give opportunities to their generations yet unborn, like the case of a former governor who paid for school fees upfront in dollars.”
 
He continued: “If we must stem the growth of abandoned projects in Nigeria, we must do away with constituency projects approved to all legislators nationwide; we must monitor and report issues concerning non-completion of any ongoing project to any investigative authority like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), or the ICPC for quick and diligent investigation and prosecution.
  
“Nigerians must begin to ask questions from leaders when exercising their rights to vote and it is very wise to do so now that we can see the stark reality of decades of stunted growth, corruption, ineptitude and obvious carelessness by both the electorates and the political leadership.”