The viral video of Sujimoto Luxury Construction CEO Olasijibomi Ogundele weeping over allegations he defrauded the Enugu State Government of N5.7 billion is nothing new in Nigeria for politicians or men of influence caught in their own web. While Ogundele’s “crocodile tears,” as described by Information Commissioner Malachy Agbo, blame inflation and site attacks for the collapsed 22 Smart Green Schools project, the state’s detailed rebuttal paints a picture of a “premeditated fraud” so blatant, it highlights a catastrophic failure in the state’s due diligence processes.
This is a case study in how sophisticated operators exploit governmental urgency and weak oversight, diverting funds meant for the most vulnerable (in this case, school children) into the pockets of luxury developers. The declaration of Ogundele as wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for money laundering is a necessary first step, but it does nothing to address the systemic rot that made this scandal possible.
Commissioner Agbo accused Ogundele of presenting a bond from Jaiz Bank to win the contract but then received the N5.7 billion payment into his company’s Zenith Bank account.
This move, according to the Enugu state government, made it “impossible to hold Jaiz Bank liable,” effectively cutting the financial security that was a condition of the contract.
The findings from the joint Ministry of Works and EFCC site evaluation are perhaps the most visually stark evidence of the alleged fraud. The revelation that there was “minimal to no significant work done” at the 22 sites a full year after the contract was awarded, and that in some cases “excavation for all the blocks” was not even done, indicates that this was a project that was never intended to be completed. The fact that new firms had to “start the construction afresh” proves that the N5.7 billion bought the state nothing but empty fields and a costly lesson.
Possible Solutions to Prevent the Next Sujimoto Scandal
The Enugu State Government’s loss of N5.7 billion reveals a critical vulnerability in its contracting process. Several critics have bashed the state government’s choice in choosing a non soil of the soil to carry out this “life changing project” where there are (in their words) other capable indigenes in the state.
Either way, to prevent a recurrence, the state and others must implement mandatory escrow-Based payment milestones. For a project that massive, it is quite frankly dumb that 50% of a contract sum is paid upfront without any tangible work done.
Also, there should be real-time project surveillance and blockchain auditing. This here means that they’re is a mandatory live-streamed CCTV footage of all sites should be available to the public and oversight bodies. Furthermore, all financial transactions related to the project should be recorded on a transparent blockchain ledger, making the diversion of funds for unauthorized purposes immediately visible and traceable.
Finally, as a deterrent to other fraudulent contractors, Ogundele and his company must be permanently blacklisted from all public contracts in Nigeria. More importantly, Enugu State should lead the creation of a national, publicly accessible database of all contractors and their performance histories, allowing every state government to vet companies before awarding contracts.
