We found out that the Contract for Construction of Kaa-Ataba Road and Bridge in Khana/Andoni in Rivers State was approved by the Federal Executive Council at a total contract price of ₦3,062,385,032.98. This contract was revised by the Management of NDDC to the sum of ₦10,930,414,996.45 without any recourse to the Federal Executive council who approved the award in the first instance. The revision which was approved on the authority of the Commission was merely based on the recommendation of the Director in charge of Project Monitoring and Supervision (PMS) in the Commission, acting on frivolous requests for variation of prices (VOP), labour costs and additional works not included in the initial Bill of Quantities.
There was no approval for this variations from the Due Process Office. The variation was contrary to the extant Procurement Act and Financial Regulations.
The Team’s physical visit to the project site in January 2019 revealed that the level of payment for the project was far higher than the milestones achieved by the contractor. While the total value of executed works up to IPC 12 was N6,794,459,168.56 (62%) of the revised contract sum. The physical level of completion as at the time of the audit visit was about 30%. The contractor was still erecting the pillars along the river area but more than half of the projected numbers have not been erected. Based on this level of completion, the contractor had been overpaid to the tune of N3,515,334669.62. (₦6,794,459,168.56 – ₦ 3,279,124,498.94 = ₦3,515,334,669.62).

Risks
There is a prevalent risk of perpetuating fraud if contracts are revised without being approved by appropriate authority.
Payment for job not executed.
The project may be abandoned.

Recommendations
The Managing Director should be sanctioned for non-adherence to laid down due process on the variation and revision of the contract price from N3,062,385,032.98 to N10,930,414,996.45 which was 357% increase from the initial contract sum.
The payment above the scope of work executed should also be explained.