Written By Ahmed Rufu’i in Dutse
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Non-State Actors (NSA) Forum in Jigawa State has urged the state government to fast-track the completion of ongoing capital projects to sustain the state’s reputation for continuity in governance and prudent management of public resources.
In a press statement issued in Dutse on Sunday by the Co-Chair of the OGP-NSA Forum, Comrade Isah Mustapha, the forum said Jigawa had distinguished itself as one of the few states in Nigeria where successive administrations, regardless of political affiliation, consistently completed inherited projects while implementing their own development programmes.
According to the statement, the tradition has helped minimise abandoned projects and ensured that public investments continue to deliver meaningful benefits to citizens.
The forum, however, expressed concern over findings of a recent project monitoring survey conducted by ELIP-Initiative, a member of the OGP-NSA Forum, which revealed that several key inherited projects remain incomplete.
The projects listed include the Dundubus–Wurno Road, Gwaram–Basirka Bridge, Maigatari–Babura Road, as well as the Specialist Hospitals in Kazaure and Hadejia, among other critical infrastructure.
The statement further disclosed that several projects initiated during the first year of the present administration had also exceeded their contractual completion timelines.
It noted that procurement records reviewed during public bid-opening exercises indicated that many of the contracts were awarded with implementation periods of up to 18 months, but several had gone far beyond their approved completion dates.
Mustapha warned that prolonged delays in project execution undermine value for money and increase the financial burden on government.
“Every delay in project execution comes at a cost. In today’s economic environment, characterised by high inflation and rising construction costs, prolonged delays often result in contract variations that increase government expenditure and reduce the resources available for other critical development priorities,” he said.
He stressed that timely completion of projects remains both a fiscal responsibility and a development imperative.
The forum also observed that the provisions of the Jigawa State Due Process and Project Monitoring Bureau (DPPMB) guidelines provide mechanisms for monitoring contract performance and sanctioning contractors or procuring entities that fail to meet contractual obligations.
It called for strict enforcement of the guidelines to enhance accountability and ensure prompt delivery of public projects.
The OGP-NSA Forum urged the Jigawa State Executive Council to conduct a comprehensive review of all ongoing projects, including inherited and newly initiated ones, to determine their implementation status, identify challenges and set realistic but firm completion deadlines.
It particularly called for urgent attention to projects that have exceeded their contractual completion periods by six to 12 months or more, saying such projects should be completed without further delay so citizens could benefit from investments already funded with public resources.
The forum also appealed to the government to strengthen project supervision and enforce contractual provisions, including appropriate sanctions against contractors whose delays are found to be unjustified.
While commending the Jigawa State Government for responding to its earlier appeal on the distribution of over 1,000 motorcycles to agricultural extension workers under the J-Agro Programme, the forum described the action as evidence that constructive engagement between government and citizens can produce positive results.
It further appealed to the government to expedite the distribution of the remaining agricultural support packages to maximise the programme’s impact during the current farming season.
The forum reaffirmed its commitment to promoting transparency, accountability, citizen participation and improved public service delivery in line with the principles of the Open Government Partnership, pledging continued collaboration with government and other stakeholders to ensure that public resources translate into tangible benefits for the people of Jigawa State.
