Naijaonpoint
SecretsReporters found that Reinforced Global Resources Ltd collected 27 payments from the Federal Ministry of Works totalling N60 billion and N54 billion of that money landed in 2024 alone, David Umahi’s first full year as Minister of Works and every one of the 27 payments sits in the Ebonyi, Cross River and Enugu corridor.
Corporate documents obtained by SecretsReporters show the firm’s managing director is Joshua Okoro. He holds 40 per cent of the shares. The other two shareholders are Akpa Ejimkonye with 30 per cent and Akpa Hannah with 30 per cent.
Okoro openly campaigned for Umahi’s 2023 Ebonyi South senatorial bid and as soon as he was made a minister, the contracts from the ministry Umahi leads followed.
Section 16(6)(e) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 requires bidders to disclose any relationship capable of colouring the procurement process. No such disclosure has been published.
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) shows Reinforced Global Resources Ltd as a duly registered company with RC 995673 and incorporated 21 November 2011. In July 2026, the EFCC arraigned Egwuche Chinyere Gladys before the Federal High Court in Enugu. She is the Group Managing Director of Brass Engineering and Construction Nigeria Ltd and facing a 12-count money-laundering charge.
The charge says she collected twelve cash tranches of $50,000 each, $600,000 in total. The money moved between 13 March and 11 April 2023. It was part-payment for a granite-crushing line sold to a joint venture of Patan Nigeria Ltd and Reinforced Global Resources Ltd. She pleaded not guilty and trial is set for 11 November 2026.
Brass Engineering is the company David Umahi founded and chaired until he left it for politics in 2011. The CAC shows it as an active company with RC 236821, incorporated 6 December 1993.
The minister’s former company sold road machines to a joint venture involving the contractor. The payment was in cash which the EFCC is prosecuting in court.
The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 caps cash transactions at N10 million.
How the payment began
The Enugu–Abakaliki–Ogoja dualisation contract is valued at N54.6 billion over 24 months. On 23 May 2024, the ministry paid N2.24 billion as engineering design. On 18 August 2024, two payments of N5.07 billion each. On 17 September 2024, N2.51 billion. On 8 November 2024, two more payments of 6.73 billion each. Within six months of the first payment, N28.36 billion, more than half the entire contract value, had flowed to the contractor from David Umahi.
The design fee
The 23 May 2024 payment of N2.24 billion was for engineering design on the same road Reinforced Global is building.
The Procurement Act’s competition and separation-of-interest rules require the design and execution roles to be kept apart. The ministry has not explained why the design of a contract worth tens of billions went to the firm executing it.
N15.72 billion and nothing to show
The rehabilitation of the Ugep–Abaomoge–Opkosi Road drew N15.72 billion across four payments between 2024 and 2026. The contract on record is N54.6 billion over 24 months, awarded to Reinforced Global.
There is no evidence of work, no inspection report, no flag-off, no media-tour stop like Umahi is used to, no community account and no photograph yet. The June 2026 Presidential Media Tour went through Ebonyi inspecting Umahi-era projects and skipped this road. N15.72 billion paid. No site evidence of work. The ministry has not shown that this road exists in any improved state.
Five projects, no trace
Five smaller payments sit below the Ugep–Abaomoge–Opkosi payments. Five named projects and N3.39 billion spent between them and no public trace of any of them in any open record.
Mpu–Uburu Road: N391,333,257.90. Amasiri–Nguazu–Edda–Ohafia Road: N1,043,835,082. Inkerefi–Ohazara Road: N988,256,500. Culverts and drains at flood-prone areas in the Dave Umahi Federal Teaching Hospital: N604,028,343.80. An emergency double-cell box culvert in the Enugu–Port Harcourt corridor: N359,377,014.10.
No contract announcements. No inspection visits. No community reports. They exist as payment lines and nothing more.
The man who signed
Engr. Rafiu Olarinre Adeladan was the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Works through the entire payment window. He was the ministry’s chief accounting officer until his retirement on 27 August 2026.
The Financial Regulations place a personal duty on the accounting officer. Every payment must leave the ministry only after due process: a valid contract, certified work, lawful approvals.
Twenty-seven payments to one firm and N28.36 billion in six months on one contract. A N2.24 billion design fee paid to the builder and N15.72 billion to a road with no site evidence of work. Adeladan has not publicly explained the due-diligence behind these payments.
Source: …Secretsreporters