Dirty Past: Former Gov. Ortom Concealed Contractors Behind Multi-Million Naira Health Projects in Benue

Secrets Reporters

An investigation by SecretsReporters has uncovered a disturbing lack of transparency in the handling of several multi-million-Naira contracts awarded by the Benue State Government in 2022 under the leadership of former Governor Samuel Ortom.

Mining data from the Benue State Open Contracting and Procurement Portal, our findings reveal that a series of contracts worth hundreds of millions of Naira, mostly awarded through the Ministry of Health and Human Services, were published without disclosing the names of the contractors. This omission violates basic principles of open contracting and accountability, raising questions about possible concealment and conflict of interest in the state’s procurement process.

Documents reviewed by SecretsReporters show that several high-value projects awarded between May and June 2022 had no contractors’ details listed on the state’s official procurement platform. Among them are the renovation of the Epidemiology Unit, Makurdi, valued at ₦106,406,219.75 and awarded on June 2, 2022; the renovation of the General Hospital Ogagaji in Agatu Local Government Area valued at ₦86,679,529.00 and awarded on June 3, 2022; the supply of medical equipment at General Hospital Gbajimba worth ₦49,179,000.00 and awarded on May 18, 2022; the renovation of General Hospital Naka valued at ₦147,602,735.24 awarded on June 3, 2022; and the renovation of General Hospital Okpoga worth ₦195,000,000.00 awarded on June 3, 2022. Despite being tagged as active on the portal, these contracts lacked any information on the contractors or implementing firms, a clear breach of the Nigeria Open Contracting Data Standards which Benue State claims to follow.

The Benue State Open Contracting Portal was launched under Governor Samuel Ortom as part of his administration’s transparency initiative to enable citizens to monitor public projects, track government spending, and hold officials accountable. However, the concealment of contractor identities undermines this goal. Experts in public procurement believe that omitting contractor names could be a deliberate attempt to protect politically connected individuals or shell companies from scrutiny. One procurement analyst familiar with Benue’s system told SecretsReporters that such omissions are red flags indicating possible manipulation of contract awards, favoritism, or the use of ghost firms to siphon public funds.

The total value of the undisclosed contracts reviewed by SecretsReporters amounts to ₦584,867,484.00, nearly six hundred million naira of taxpayers’ money. Without the names of the contractors, citizens, anti-corruption agencies, and civil society organizations have no way of verifying whether the projects were actually executed or if funds were diverted. Further checks revealed that while some projects are marked as active, there is no evidence of progress reports, completion certificates, or performance evaluations available on the state’s open data platform.
Governor Samuel Ortom, who served as the state’s chief executive between 2015 and 2023, had often boasted of transparency and good governance, but these revelations contradict his administration’s public image.

The failure of the Benue State Government under Samuel Ortom to disclose the names of contractors for projects worth hundreds of millions of Naira calls into question the credibility of the state’s open contracting system.
Efforts to get clarification from the Ministry of Health and Human Services proved futile as no official statement was issued at the time of filing this report.