Follow Up: Kwara govt earmarks another N400m for Visual Art Centre after spending N1.7bn on project originally approved for N755m

The Kwara State government has allocated additional N500 million for the construction of the Ilorin Visual Arts Centre in 2025.

The Informant247 had reported in December 2024 that the Kwara State government spent nearly N2 billion on the project, which was initially approved for N755 million.

The project, approved in 2020 and unveiled in 2023, has not yet been put to use. With no visible progress or construction at the facility since its unveiling, the government has continued to pour hundreds of millions of naira annually in its ‘completion’.

What has been spent

On August 8, 2020, the Kwara State Executive Council, under the leadership of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, awarded the construction of a state-of-the-art Visual Arts Centre to Habtob Global Construction Ventures, with a contract sum of N755,496,768.12.

However, by the end of September 2024, the state government had cumulatively spent a total of N1,852,282,736.17 on the project, which is a staggering N1,096,785,968.05 more than the initial contract sum of N755,496,768.12.

In 2020, the government spent N268,608,255.00 on the project, while in 2021, it spent N805,700,260.71.

With no significant progress or construction work at the facility between 2023 and 2024, millions of naira were still allocated from the state coffers for the project.

In 2022, the expenditure was N216,246,322.46. In 2023, the government reported spending N335,985,791.00, and by September 2024, it had spent N225,742,107.00.

In the 2025 budget, the government has again allocated N400 million for the project.

What the government has said

In response to inquiries regarding the expenditure on the Ilorin Visual Arts Centre, Bolanle Olukoju, the Commissioner for Communications, stated that the total amount spent so far on the project stands at N1,764,797,111.70.

While admitting that the project was initially awarded with a contract sum of N755,496,768.12, she explained that certain economic factors led to the upward revision of the contract sum.

She said, “However, due to significant economic changes over the course of its execution — including inflation, substantial fluctuations in exchange rates, and the rising costs of construction materials — the project cost was revised to N1,369,435,069.49 to align with new realities that are known to all.

“For context, the contract was awarded in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted not only our ways of life but also severely impacted the global economy. At the close of 2020, the US dollar exchanged for N388. Today, however, the dollar exchanges for N1,604, representing a 313.4% difference!”

“As of today, the total amount spent so far on the project stands at N1,764,797,111.70.”

“This total expenditure covered various essential tasks, such as construction, interior fittings, landscaping, security installations, and other finishing works, all handled by different contractors. The breakdown of tasks and payments to these contractors aligns with the total sum expended, ensuring every kobo was accounted for.”

“It is important to note that the initial contract sum did not include the cost of equipment, security fixtures, and some other fittings,” she added.

Discrepancies in government’s spending, other claims

However, while the statement claimed that the project was awarded before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, The Informant247’s findings showed that the project was approved after the COVID-19 outbreak.

It should be noted that the federal government, alongside state governments, announced phases of lockdown in cities across the country starting in March, following the outbreak of the disease in Nigeria earlier in February.

The project, however, was approved by the state executive council in August.

Additionally, The Informant247’s review of the state government’s financial statement from 2020 through September 2024 showed that the government had released N1,852,282,736.17 for the project.

This contradicts the N1,764,797,111.70 figure provided by the commissioner, raising questions about the additional N100 million added to the figure in the government’s official document.

Regarding the budget revision, findings by The Informant247 revealed that the government’s claim of revising the project’s cost from N755,496,768.12 to N1,369,435,069.49 is inconsistent with the figures in the budget.

In addition to several other revisions made annually, the government revised the project budget to N1,450,000,000.00 in 2021 alone, after spending N268,608,255.00 in 2020.