The federal government has issued contractors handling the 260 emergency projects a three-month deadline to deliver or face termination.
The minister of works David Umahi gave the deadline during a meeting with the contractors yesterday in Abuja.
Umahi said the emergency road projects were appropriated in the 2023 supplementary budget to immediately intervene in the completely failed parts of critical federal roads nationwide and restore the serviceability level of the affected roads.
Umahi, in a statement by his special adviser, Barr Orji Uchenna Orji, listed about 37 contractors who have yet to achieve a milestone in project delivery since the contracts were awarded and warned that they must mobilise to the sites tomorrow or face contract termination.
He said, “If any contractor fails to comply after the deadline for mobilisation to the sites, the job shall be terminated by the expiration of time as the contract is for a three-month period.
He said, “Any contractor whose job has stayed for more than three months without completion after the issuance of an award letter must seek and obtain approval for extension of time from the Federal Ministry of Works.”.
The minister said most of the defaulting contractors handled emergency road projects in Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and River States.
He warned that the projects awarded to them must be delivered in three months as no excuse of security challenges or lack of mobilisation funds would justify the suffering they are subjecting road users or shield them from being blacklisted as constituting a clog in the wheel of progress in the efforts of the Renewed Hope administration in revolutionising road infrastructure for Nigeria’s economic prosperity.
Umahi said, “The people are suffering, and the president is having sleepless nights in his efforts to fix our road infrastructure to help our economy. People will be given jobs, and they are telling us stories. There have been jobs awarded by this ministry in the past and money paid, and the contractors would hold the money, and they would say it’s a security problem. Didn’t you know about the security situation before you got the job?”
He directed federal controllers of works to ensure proper supervision of the projects in their sites and be abreast with the contract awarded, amount, date of award, time line, review date, extension of time, argumentation granted and whether the contractor is on site.
In his remarks, the permanent secretary, Yakubu Adam Kofarmata, stated that the period had gone when contractors were taking the country for granted, could afford to delay job delivery for years after collecting mobilization, and would keep feeding on the VOP.
He charged contractors to prepare for the new spirit of “Nigeria first,” introduced in the Federal Ministry of Works under the Renewed Hope administration of Mr. President.