The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has suspended the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority from awarding new contracts amid the ongoing probe of its managing director, Deji Ashiru, over alleged contract racketeering.

“The bureau hereby suspends any further action on the subject procurement process until the bureau settles the matter,” read a letter dated June 30, 2025, and signed by its director-general, Adebowale Adedokun. “This request is made pursuant to sections 6(1)(h) and (m) of the Procurement Act, 2007.”

BPP said the suspension followed several complaints regarding the procurement proceedings carried out by the authority for projects under the 2025 budget.

“The allegations border on inflation of contracts, tampering of the in-house estimates, bid rigging, collusion, and other contraventions of the Public Procurement Act, 2027,” it added.

The agency noted that following the allegations, which, if proven to be true, could cast aspersions on the reputation of the federal government and be injurious to the ongoing procurement reforms, the authority forwarded, among others, comments on the allegations raised in the complaint; copies of the solicitation documents; copies of the bid documents issued to bidders; and copies of the prequalification and financial bid documents submitted by the bidders for review.

Requesting the authority to submit its comments on the allegations raised by the complainants, the agency said documents such as newspaper advertisements for expression of interest (EOI)/invitation for prequalification/tender or letter of no objection issued by BPP where applicable; technical evaluation report; invitation letters for proposal/submissions by shortlisted firms/prequalified contractors; and records of submission/openings of bids/technical proposals, including bid return sheet, should be submitted on July 7, 2025.

It also requested the authority to submit records of financial bid openings, members of the technical/financial evaluation committee, contractors financial proposals, the financial evaluation report, tender board minutes approving the technical evaluation committee’s technical evaluation report and scores, letters of invitation for financial bid openings, and letters of debriefing of unsuccessful firms while returning the financial bids unopened.

Other documents required for submission include tenders board/FEC approval, as applicable; copies of award letters and contract documents; advance payment bond; payment records, including valuation certificates, invoices, payment vouchers, delivery notes, store receipt notes, progress of work, copy of vote books and any other procurement record, list of procurement officers in the organisation and their schedules, and the organisation’s organogram.

Efforts to reach Mr Ashiru for comments on the allegations were unsuccessful, as he did not pick up several phone calls nor reply to text messages.

Ezekiel Agunlejika, the traditional ruler of Okebode, where some of the contracts were purportedly executed, could not be reached for comments.

But The Gazette found, contrary to Mr Ashiru’s claims, that projects marked as completed in the community were still in the early stages of construction.

OORBDA, one of the twelve River Basin Development Authorities established by the federal government in 1976, was meant to concentrate on the development and management of Osun, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos States, all the areas drained by the Ogun, Oshun, and Sasa Rivers, including their tributaries.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the traditional ruler of Okebode was not available for comment. A previous version erroneously said he decried the agency’s failure to implement projects in his community.