How David Umahi Awarded Road Contracts To Two Different Firms With Exact Same Amount of ₦350.6 Million Road Bids Despite Their Ineligibility

Secrets Reporters

Six routes were carved out of one affordable housing site, and six contracts were awarded to build their roads and drainage. On two different routes, two different companies submitted the exact same figure, down to the last kobo. One of those companies is inactive on the corporate register, documents seen by SecretsReporters have shown.

The Federal Ministry of Works, under Minister David Umahi, awarded Messrs Lion Unisco Ltd ₦350,628,718.75 for the provision of on-site infrastructure, road and drainage for Route C of an affordable housing development initiative. The award recorded five tenderers.

On Route A of the same site, Yanduna Ventures Nigeria Limited won its contract at precisely ₦350,628,718.75, the identical amount, to the kobo, for a different route. Two separate bids, two separate routes and one figure.

Corporate records show that Lion Unisco Ltd, RC 1028512, carries an inactive status on the Corporate Affairs Commission register. A company whose filings have lapsed into inactivity nonetheless won a N350.6 million federal road contract.

The company is not unknown to the Works ministry. It is owned by Engineer Adewale Akin-Osho and was a favoured contractor of the previous Works minister, Babatunde Fashola, executing the rehabilitation of internal roads at the University of Lagos valued at N182.3 million in 2021 and road works at the University of Ibadan. It also holds the concession for the Lagos mechanised abattoir at Bariga, commissioned by Fashola and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The identical pricing raises the question of how two independent bids for different routes arrived at the same figure to the kobo, and whether the bids were genuinely competitive. The Public Procurement Act 2007 requires procuring entities to verify the legal standing of bidders and to ensure genuine competition in every procurement. It is not clear how an inactive company cleared both tests.