World Bank suspends Nigerian tech company for bribery
SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Limited, a Nigerian information technology solutions company, and its Managing Director, Isah Kantigi have been sanctioned by the World Bank.
This was contained in a statement titled ‘World Bank Group debars SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd. and its managing director’, which was published on the bank’s website on Wednesday, March 30, 2022.
SoftTech specializes in Big Data and Cloud Solutions, Geographic Information Systems and Mapping, Information Retrieval and Search Engines
The firm was sanctioned for 50 months while Kantigi received a 60-month punishment.
With this decision, both the company and Kantigi are now ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the World Bank Group.
The statement read in part, “The World Bank Group today announced the 50-month debarment of SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd., an information technology solutions company based in Nigeria, and the 60-month debarment of its managing director, in connection with corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.
“The debarments make SoftTech and Mr Isah Kantigi, a Nigerian national, ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the World Bank Group.”
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The World Bank said the firm and the managing director were sanctioned for improper payments made to certain project officials.
According to reports, they were suspended for alleged corruption, as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.
The statement read in part, “The World Bank Group today announced the 50-month debarment of SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd., an information technology solutions company based in Nigeria, and the 60-month debarment of its managing director, in connection with corrupt practices as part of the National Social Safety Nets Project in Nigeria.
“The debarments make SoftTech and Mr Isah Kantigi, a Nigerian national, ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the World Bank Group.”
The World Bank said the firm and the managing director were sanctioned for improper payments made to certain project officials.
In another development, the World Bank said that the number of poor Nigerians is projected to hit 95.1 million in 2022.
The bank made this known in its poverty assessment report titled ‘A Better Future for All Nigerians: 2022 Nigeria Poverty Assessment’.
The report noted that the COVID-19 crisis is driving up Nigeria’s poverty rate, pushing more than five million additional people into poverty by 2022.
With real per capita GDP growth being negative in all sectors in 2020, the bank said poverty is projected to have deepened for the current poor, while those households that were just above the poverty line prior to the COVID-19 crisis would be likely to fall into poverty.
