After a wanted notice, Sujimoto Luxury Construction CEO Olasijibomi “Sijibomi” Ogundele submitted to the EFCC for questioning over a ₦5.76bn advance on an ₦11.46bn contract to build 22 Smart Green Schools for Enugu State. Officials allege minimal progress; the developer insists the matter is commercial, not criminal.
The Enugu Smart Green Schools programme—22 sites awarded to Sujimoto in July 2024 with a six-month delivery horizon—was structured as “buildings only” to be furnished and equipped ahead of September 2025. To accelerate timelines, the state increased upfront funding from 30% to 50%, wiring ₦5,762,565,475.25 to the contractor against a total contract sum of ₦11,457,930,950.52.
A year later, state engineers reported that many locations contracted to Sujimoto were still at foundation/DPC or early blockwork, prompting a formal petition to the anti-graft agency. Following a public notice, the CEO appeared at EFCC headquarters and was grilled for hours. In the preliminary phase, investigators restricted accounts linked to the matter while they review documents, site records and payment trails.
Ogundele’s position: he rejects any suggestion of theft, framing the dispute as a “deal gone bad” driven by scope creep, inflation and ongoing litigation. He says he will cooperate and “clear his name.”
Bond controversy: Enugu State says the contractor presented a Jaiz Bank performance bond, but payments reportedly flowed through a Zenith Bank account, complicating attempts to call the bond. In construction law, enforceability turns on bond wording: an on-demand guarantee is ordinarily callable on presentation of specified documents, regardless of the payer bank—provided expiry, notice and trigger conditions are met. If the bond is conditional or documentation is misaligned, recovery can stall and invite injunctions.
Delivery discipline: Building 22 sites in parallel in six months requires tight milestone gating (independent QS valuations), advance recovery embedded in IPCs, indexed pricing for volatility, escrows to critical subcontractors, and daily site diaries. Where these controls are weak, cashflows outpace work, trust erodes, and employers move to retake sites and re-procure—as Enugu says it has done.
Note: Allegations on both sides remain unproven. The EFCC review and any court process will determine facts, liabilities and remedies.
By the Numbers
- 22 school buildings (“shell & structure”).
- ₦11.458bn contract value; ₦5.763bn advanced (50%).
- 6 months initial horizon from acceptance; state targeted Sept 2025 readiness.
- Status claim: multiple sites at foundation/DPC/early blockwork at May 2025 inspections.
Legal & Commercial Fault Lines
- Performance Security
- What matters: Is the bond on-demand or conditional? Have expiry and notice windows lapsed?
- Action path: Employer can call; contractor may seek injunction alleging disputed valuations/variations.
- What matters: Is the bond on-demand or conditional? Have expiry and notice windows lapsed?
- Advance Recovery & Set-Off
- Compute: Advance paid – certified work done – materials on site = net recoverable.
- Levers: Set-off against IPCs; LDs if contractually stipulated; potential restitution claims.
- Compute: Advance paid – certified work done – materials on site = net recoverable.
- Termination & Re-procurement
- After retake: Document cost-to-complete and delay impacts carefully to support claims and defend quantum meruit counter-claims.
- After retake: Document cost-to-complete and delay impacts carefully to support claims and defend quantum meruit counter-claims.
- Civil vs Criminal Tracks
- Civil: Valuation, variations, time/price adjustments, LDs.
- Criminal: Only if dishonest diversion of funds is proven to the required standard.
- Civil: Valuation, variations, time/price adjustments, LDs.
- Inflation & Scope
- Defence viability: Depends on written instructions, variation orders, and price adjustment clauses—not ex-post assertions.
- Defence viability: Depends on written instructions, variation orders, and price adjustment clauses—not ex-post assertions.
What Happens Next (0–90 Days)
- EFCC preliminary decision: charge, seek asset restraints, or close out.
- Bond/Recovery: Employer may attempt a bond call and/or pursue restitution through civil courts.
- Completion: Replacement contractors push to finish sites; watch cost-to-complete and delivery slippage against school-opening targets.
- Governance fixes: Expect standardized on-demand bonds, pay-for-progress, escrow to key subs, and quarterly transparency on state capex.
BRANDECONOMY Take
Nigeria’s public contracting often fails not at the headline but in the documents: soft performance security, fat advances, thin supervision. The corrective is boring but decisive—airtight on-demand guarantees, milestone-based payments, QS-verified IPCs, and escrows that keep funds welded to work on site.
If criminal diversion is proved, restitution should be swift. If this is a bona fide commercial dispute, the cure is in valuation, variations, and time/price mechanisms—not trial by social media. Either way, the lesson stands: discipline cash with contracts, or contracts will discipline cash.
