The details of the project were found on the Open Contracting Portal of the state.
The Kwara state government spent N9,980,000.00 on the creation and maintenance of a website to host the laws of the state online, SaharaReporters' investigation has revealed.
The details of the project were found on the Open Contracting Portal of the state.
The project titled, 'Creation of website and maintenance to host the law of Kwara State online', was awarded to Sw7 Technology Partners for a total sum of N9,980,000.00 and it was meant to be completed within eight weeks, between June 23, 2021, and August 18, 2021.
An investigation carried out by SaharaReporters has however revealed that the website does not exist yet, 10 months after the due date. So, there is no website currently dedicated to educating the public on the laws of the state.
But there is a section of the Kwara State Government Office website where visitors can find procurement and budgetary reports, not laws.
Mr Ibrahim, a legal practitioner who has been practising in the state for more than 10 years, lamented the absence of an online platform to provide such information, saying "accessing state laws online is still something very difficult. I have never come across any site where I can read those laws online”.
"Most of the lawyers and the judicial officers are still relying on hard copies. If the government can actually do that project, it will be good," he added.
Apart from being non-existent, SaharaReporters also learnt that the amount budgeted for the website is very expensive, most likely due to corruption.
For instance, a web designer, Mr Israel Ndukwe, described the cost of the non-existent website as outrageous, saying ordinarily, it should cost about one-fifth of the amount.
"Creation and maintenance of a website should not be more than N2 million, even if the project is awarded by the government. This shows obvious corruption. The project money is overpriced,” he said.
However, when SaharaReporters contacted the General Manager of Kwara State Procurement Agency, Mr Abdulbaki Abdulrahman, he explained that the N9.9 million project was awarded after following the due procurement process.
He confirmed that it was planned to be delivered within eight (8) weeks but that the contractor failed to deliver the project satisfactorily.
"Kwara State Government paid the company mobilisation funds to execute the project within eight weeks. But the company could not deliver to our satisfaction. The company was asked to go back and do the work before we would release the balance for the project," he said.
But when asked about the current situation regarding the project, he referred SaharaReporters to the Tender Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mr Abu Mubaraq Kaiama.
Mr Mubarak Kaiama refused to make any comment on the phone when SaharaReporters contacted him.