{"id":121134,"date":"2025-07-31T22:38:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T21:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=121134"},"modified":"2025-07-31T22:38:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T21:38:45","slug":"how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies&#8211; Investigation\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\u200eDaniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eAllegations of contract fraud and manipulation have rocked Nigeria\u2019s power sector, with contractors revealing how Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) falsify financial records to favour cronies and demand illegal kickbacks before awarding contracts.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200ePointblanknews.com gathered from contractors in the power sector that most MDAs executing electrical projects often break into sealed bid documents to alter financials, deliberately skewing the process to favour pre-selected companies.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eOne of them disclosed, \u201cBefore now during bidding processes, there was technical bidding before financials but lately they now do technical and financial processes the same day and put all your documents into the box and when you come around, you&#8217;ll notice that your financials have been tampered with.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eThey alleged that successful bidders are later compelled to pay between three to 10 per cent of the contract sum in cash, under the guise of \u201cadministrative charges,\u201d which are not officially captured in the procurement documents nor paid into government accounts.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200e\u201cSometimes it is written in the document they present to us but that 10 per cent, you were not told to capture it in your costing,\u201d another contractor said. \u201cIf the contract is awarded, the actual money for the project is reduced and the contractor is unable to complete or cut corners.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eThese shady practices, they warned, are forcing many contractors to compromise safety standards by using inferior materials or hiring unqualified workers just to execute projects. Some MDAs reportedly deduct unexplained fees from approved budgets, citing dubious costs such as site clearance and signage, which are never implemented.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eMeanwhile, the President of the Association of Public Policy Analysis, Princewill Okorie, added his voice to the growing concern during the Nigeria Electricity Safety Industry workshop held Thursday in Abuja. He alleged that MDAs now demand as much as 30 to 40 percent in bribes before awarding contracts, often sidelining competent bidders who refuse to comply.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eOkorie said, \u201cDue process in procurement of contracts awards in the electricity sector is another issue affecting safety standards, regulations and enforcement in the sector. Contractors in the power sector have been complaining of abuse\u2026 this has given rise to electricity project[s] being given to companies that lack competence in handling electricity projects.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eHe warned that such corruption violates the Electricity Act 2023, particularly Section 176(m), and has resulted in the engagement of quack contractors lacking the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) Competency Certificate. \u201cThis promotes the use of substandard materials and use of quacks\u2026 thereby violating provisions of Section 176(m) of Electricity Act 2023,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eSimilarly, Okorie raised concerns about the rising number of unqualified electricians operating across Nigeria due to lack of funding for technician training.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200e\u201cOur research has shown that there are 10 electrical technicians practicing electrical installation in the 8,809 electoral wards in the country without NEMSA electrical installation competency certificate,\u201d he said. \u201cThis means we have a minimum of 88,090 electrical installers in the country without competency certificate. This portrays danger and should be addressed.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eHe called on the National Assembly to intervene by appropriating funds to empower electrical technicians, enabling them to obtain necessary certification and improve public safety.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eThese revelations add to mounting cases of procurement fraud in Nigerian MDAs, raising fresh concerns about safety, transparency, and accountability in the implementation of public projects.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200eAs of the time of filing this report, the Bureau of Public Procurement had yet to respond to Pointblanknews.com\u2019s inquiry regarding measures it is taking to safeguard the rights of contractors.<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<div>\u200e<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u200eDaniel Adaji \u200e \u200eAllegations of contract fraud and manipulation have rocked Nigeria\u2019s power sector, with contractors revealing how Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) falsify financial records to favour cronies and&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u200eDaniel Adaji \u200e \u200eAllegations of contract fraud and manipulation have rocked Nigeria\u2019s power sector, with contractors revealing how Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) falsify financial records to favour cronies and&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"721\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies&#8211; Investigation\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\"},\"wordCount\":583,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\",\"name\":\"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":721},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies&#8211; Investigation\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News","og_description":"\u200eDaniel Adaji \u200e \u200eAllegations of contract fraud and manipulation have rocked Nigeria\u2019s power sector, with contractors revealing how Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) falsify financial records to favour cronies and&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":721,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies&#8211; Investigation\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/"},"wordCount":583,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/","name":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies- Investigation\u00a0 - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-31T21:38:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Power-grid.jpg","width":1280,"height":721},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/how-mdas-fake-financials-to-award-contracts-to-cronies-investigation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How MDAs Fake Financials to Award Contracts to Cronies&#8211; Investigation\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121135,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121134\/revisions\/121135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}