The Senate Committee on Niger Delta has warned contractors handling some flagship projects of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA) to desist from the acts capable of aggravating the challenges confronting the Niger Delta Region and Nigeria.
Members of the committee who were on oversight visit to Delta and Rivers States in company of the Minister of State, MNDA Prof. Claudius Daramola at the weekend to assess the progress of some of the Ministry’s projects in the area, expressed displeasure over what they called ‘the slow pace of work’ on the various sites visited.
A member of the committee, Senator Tayo Alasoadura said, we should be serious about handling government funds because the money is our own adding that if we don’t do the projects well, we will continue to service them, rather than using the funds for other projects.
He suggested a 10-year guarantee period to be billed into all future projects in the country to ensure that contractors deliver quality jobs to Nigerians. While adding that the guarantee period will help the country to save a lot of fund being wasted on servicing projects on shoddy jobs by contractors.
Prof. Daramola expressed displeasure over the slow pace of shoddy job noticeable in some of the sites visited while disclosing that contractors who were not on sites during the oversight visit had been summoned to the Ministry to explain the reasons for the shoddy jobs carried out on some of the sites visited before further payments to them. "Introduction of 10 years guarantee will put contractors on their toes."
One of the contractor handling the Skills Acquisition Centre at Tuomo community in Delta State, Mr Claudius Eneghes said, the project was hampered by non-release of fund since 2014, until 2017 when funds were release that his company resumed work.
He promised his organisation’s commitment to completing its own part of the project as it gets more funds from government.
