On July 24, 2022, the federal government paid N164,273,915.62 to Jimoh Badamosi’s JRB Constructions Company Ltd. to renovate and furnish dilapidated classroom blocks in schools in Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, Lagos.

Two years after this payment, the company cannot name the schools where the renovation exercise took place or how it executed the contract.

For three weeks, FIJ probed the company in line with Nigeria’s Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), but despite first saying they fulfilled the contract, they backtracked and never could provide documents for it.

FIJ first learned of this contract while probing questionable payments the National Cereals Research Institute (NCRI), Badeggi, made to Najah Consult on the same day.

The NCRI paid Badamosi’s company and described it as ‘Payment for renovation and furnishing of dilapidated classroom blocks in some schools within Surulere 1 federal constituency’. However, this contract was not in tandem with any of the institute’s mandates or programmes. It was a constituency project inserted by Femi Gbajabiamila when he was speaker of the House of Representatives.

In a telephone interview with FIJ, Malachy Ugwuanyi, a representative of JRB Constructions, said the company executed the contract in line with agreements with NCRI.

READ MORE: How National Cereals Research Institute Made Questionable N141.445m Payments to Najah Consult in One Year

He said, “We bid for the contract fairly, and after it was given to us, we executed accordingly. We have all the documents to show this too.”

FIJ had this conversation with Ugwuanyi on January 18, but two days later, he said the company wanted one Phrank Adie to speak with the newspaper. Adie called and said the company would provide the information if we gave him time.

“I represent the company,” Adie said. “They regularly execute constituency projects for Gbajabiamila, and they are putting the documents together as requested. We have them.”

On February 1, Adie called to say the company had yet to prepare the information. He asked for more time. Earlier in January, FIJ wrote to NCRI seeking information on this contract, but the institute never replied.

On Monday, Adie called FIJ to say he was meeting with Badamosi to get information on the contract’s execution, but as of press time, he had not given feedback.

With no listed schools or number of classrooms in the contract specification as published on the Govspend platform, the project is difficult to track and monitor.

This is not the first time JRB Constructions has come under a microscope for questionable contract executions.

On September 21, 2022, the company received N185 million from the Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa, Gombe, to construct inner roads in Airways Itire, Lagos.

According to Tracka, a civil society organisation that monitors contracts in Nigeria, this contract was poorly executed, and rain washed off the asphalt easily.