The Minister of Works, David Umahi, made this known during a meeting with the contractors on Monday, in Abuja.
The Nigerian government has issued a three-month ultimatum to contractors handling the 260 emergency projects across the country.
The Minister of Works, David Umahi, made this known during a meeting with the contractors on Monday, in Abuja.
Umahi stated that the emergency road projects, funded through the 2023 supplementary budget, aimed to address the severely deteriorated sections of critical federal roads across the country and restore their serviceability.
In a statement by his special adviser, Uchenna Orji, Umahi listed about 37 contractors who had 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.
The statement read “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.
“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.”
He 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, however, 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.
“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?”
Umahi 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 speech, 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.