Tag Archives: contractors

Enugu Assembly to blacklist, prosecute erring contractors

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The Enugu State House of Assembly has threatened to blacklist any contractor who failed to complete the job given to him on schedule.

The Chairman, House Committee on Works, Housing and Urban Development, Sunday Ude-Okoye, made the assertion when he led members of his committee to Aninri and Awgu Local government Areas in an oversight function.

He expressed disappointment over the slow execution of work in some of the project sites visited.

Ude-Okoye regretted that some contractors collected over 30 per cent of the total sum of the contract awarded to them and abandoned the job.

He vowed to organise a thorough Public Hearing on ongoing state projects in all the local government councils in the state.

The chairman warned the contractors to mobilise back to site or risk being blacklisted and prosecution.

He said, it will no longer business as usual in the state, where some scrupulous individuals collect government money without doing the work they were paid to do.

News Agency of Nigeria reports that Enugu government in October, 2016, inaugurated over 35 projects in 17 local government areas of the state.

EFCC Quizzes Two Contractors For Inflated Vehicles Cost

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Two contractors have been quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in connection with the purchase of two vehicles by the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Cross Rivers state. The two vehicles were purchased at an outrageously high price. A Coastal Bus was purchased for N49 million while one Toyota Hiace Ambulance was purchased for N62 million.

The two contractors, Emmanuel Etta Nkin, who is the promoter of Basemark Construction Company Ltd and Anthony Okocha, promoter of Messrs Anchor Industrial Nigeria Ltd were arrested by operatives of the Commission following a petition by the Bureau of Public Procurement that the purchase of the vehicles did not follow due process.

Though the contract for the purchase of the vehicles were advertised by the Teaching Hospital, and several contractors bided for the contract, investigation by the Commission reveals that Basemark Construction Company Limited and Anchor Industrial Nigeria Limited were the least qualified for the contract. For instance, Basemark Construction Company Limited had no evidence of Registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission submitted for the bid process.

Curiously, the two companies which submitted the highest bid of N62 million and N49 million got the contract ahead of other bidders with lesser amount.

Upon interrogation, Etta Nkin admitted that the Ambulance was purchased at the cost of N9 million and that he has been paid N59 million so far leaving a balance of N3 million. Also, Anthony Okocha admitted that he purchased the Coastal Bus for N15 million and that he has been paid N24 million so far. EFCC findings from the place of purchase of the vehicles shows that the Toyota Ambulance was purchased for N8.5 million while the Coastal Bus goes for N13 million.

Evidences at the disposal of the Commission shows that some high level management officers Teaching Hospital may have compromised their position and would be questioned by the Commission soon.

Okowa gives contractors 7-day ultimatum to go back to site.

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Delta Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has charged the contractors handling road projects in the state to go back to the site.

 

Governor Okowa gave the charge during an inspection on ongoing road projects in the state yesterday in Asaba.

 

The governor who was represented by the state commissioner for work, Chief James Augoye, gave a week ultimatum to contractors handling its various projects to mobilise to site and commence work to avert sanctions.

 

He said that the state government was not happy with the pace and standard of some projects under execution especially after mobilisation by the erring contractors financially without seeing the impact of the projects.

 

He noted that the State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, was not happy with the pace of some projects after mobilizing the contractors will no longer be tolerated by the government, with a warning that any contractor who fails to commence operation at its projects site on Monday, next week would be sanctioned.

 

Chief Augoye cashed at the contractor handing the Onyeloni 263m street, Iyiatu 771m street and four other road projects in Kwale for poor performance and threatened to sanction if it fails to mobilize and commence operation on Monday next week latest.

No more Business for Portfolio Contractors in Enugu – Ugwuanyi

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Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State says the era of engaging portfolio contractors who do shoddy jobs for the state government is over.

Ugwuanyi, presenting school furniture to the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board on Tuesday, said only seasoned contractors would henceforth be engaged to work in the state.

The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Cecelia Ezeilo, reiterated his appeal to contractors to deliver quality assured jobs in line with agreed specifications.

He said that the state government would no longer tolerate contractors who abandon projects after mobilisation, insisting that contractual terms must be met.

Ugwuanyi said that he was moved to donate the school furniture due to the situation and challenges in the public schools, where pupils study under unfriendly circumstances.

He said that his administration would embark on massive turnaround of infrastructure in public schools in the state, promising that the situation would never be the same again.

The governor expressed satisfaction with the ongoing reconstruction of 370 classroom blocks in the state, which he said, had attained 90 per cent completion.

Ugwuanyi said: “We are committed to ensuring that our children are comfortable in their classrooms in order to make the job of teaching easier for the teachers.

“We shall continue to respond to the needs of these children in schools because their comfort and safety today guarantee the comfort and safety of our future.”

Ugwuanyi said that education remained a priority in his reform agenda, being the fulcrum for sustainable development.

Responding, the Chairman of ENSUBEB, Chief Ikeje Asogwa, said the gesture would help to boost the morale of pupils and teachers.

Asogwa said that the furniture would be equitably shared to benefitting schools across the state.

He urged the education secretaries to generate the list of the beneficiaries in line with their scale of need.

The governor donated 12, 480 desks and chairs for use by primary school pupils and 868 tables and chairs for teachers.

Fashola Confirms N70bn Payment To FG Contractors

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The Minister of Power Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has confirmed that about N70 billion has been paid to contractors out of the N102 billion released to his ministry.

He disclosed at the ongoing town hall meeting in Abuja, that following the payment, contractors were able to resume back to their construction sites.

According to him, there are over 200 on-going road projects valued at N2 trillion under supervision of the ministry. He added that the N19 billion initially released from the 2015 budget was grossly inadequate.

Fashola emphasized that work has resumed at Kano-Katsina road, Port-Harcourt-Enugu road, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Loko-Oweto Bridge, and this has invariably led to economic improvement in the communities around those sites.

He said previous governments gave more attention to recurrent expenditure as against the capital expenditure, which according to him, worked negatively against the nation’s infrastructure and the economy.

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Fashola confirms N70bn payment to FG contractors

Kwara State Government Directs Contractors Back to Site

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Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed has directed contractors handling various projects in the State to return to sites immediately.

 

Governor Ahmed who gave the directive in Ilorin at the monthly Stakeholders Meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said projects in the areas of Energy, water, road construction, health and education would be completed as the state revenues improve.

 

He said his government places high premium on quality infrastructure for socio-economic development, promising not to relent in facilitating the economic growth of the State.

 

Governor Ahmed said N5 Million each had been earmarked to carry out special infrastructural intervention projects in each of the 193 wards in the State, promising to begin another round of youth and women empowerment programmes, next week to engage women and youths and also stimulate the state economy.

 

Speaking on the delay in the payment of Local Government workers and Basic Education teachers, Governor Ahmed explained that his government had assisted in the payment of their July salaries with the disbursement of N160million naira to local government councils.

 

Governor Ahmed assured the people of the state that worst times were over with improved internally generated revenues and federal allocations, promising to make the state more conducive for all residents.

 

Earlier in his remarks, the State Chairman of APC, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani had explained that the monthly interactive forum was to intimate their members about developments at the state and the national levels.

 

The meeting had in attendance members of the State Executive Council, Local Government Chairmen, APC leaders and elders, representatives of APC in all the 193 wards, youths and women associations in the State.

Nigeria Govt Blacklists Firm, Revokes Licence For Allegedly Diverting Explosives

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The Federal Government on Thursday blacklisted the Nigerian Development and Construction Company (NDCC), an importer and seller of explosives in Koko, Delta State, for allegedly diverting explosives.

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, who gave the blacklisting order said the company’s business premises should immediately be sealed off, in addition to the withdrawal of its explosive distribution licences.

The action by the government followed the outcome of investigations by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), which revealed that the company was involved in illegal diversion of about 9,000 kilogramme of Nitro-glycerine explosives and 16,420 pieces of electrical detonators from its magazines between 2015 and 2016.

A statement from the minister’s office warned manufacturers, importers, sellers and end users of explosives in the country to desist from unprofessional activities, including the sale, procurement, storage and use of explosives in line with the provisions of the Explosives Act of 1964 , the Explosives Regulations of 1967 and other extant policy directives.

The Nigerian government has in recent years tightened its control on the distribution of explosives, as it fights a brutal insurgency by Boko Haram.

The group has killed thousands of people using suicide and car bombs since 2009.

Experts also believe that explosives, used legally by construction firms, are easily sourced by militants in the Niger Delta who attack oil and gas installations.

It is however unclear whether the decision to blacklist NDCC had to do with such security threat.

 

Source – Premium times

Kwara Govt. Pays N2.4bn To Contractors Handling Road Projects

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The Kwara Government says it has paid about N2.4billion to contractors handling over 35 road projects spread across the state.
Alhaji Aro Yahaya, the State Commissioner for Works and Transport, stated this on Friday in Ilorin after inspecting some of the projects.

 

Yahaya said that the contractors were paid in order to fasten the completion of the projects before the commencement of the rains.

 

According to him, contractors handling road projects in llesha-gwanara, Share OkeOde, Offa-lra and Erinlle-llemona roads had earlier received part payment.

 

The commissioner said that part payments were also made to contractors handling Arandun -Aranorin-Rore, Kpada-Patigi, Adua Lere, University of llorin mini campus, Henry George and Arbadi-Megida roads, among others.

 

The commissioner who said that the contractors were now on sites, urged them to respect the contractual agreements.
He warned that the state government would not hesitate to revoke contracts that failed to meet specifications.

 

Yahaya reaffirmed the determination of the state government to ensure that all roads in the state were motorable in spite of lean resources.

 

(NAN)

FG Preparing To Pay Contractors, To Continue Work Next Year- Fashola

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The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has promised the Federal Government’s preparedness to pay contractors handling projects across the country and get them back to work next year.

The Minister, who made the promise at a media conference in Abuja on Tuesday, said that:”For us, our ability to achieve connectivity on load, depends on capital spending in 2016 to pay contractors and get them back to work”.

Mr Fashola informed reporters about his blueprints for handling issues in the three ministries he oversees.

He also emphasized his determination to implement an effective market tariff system for the power sector.

According to the Minister, a tariff system which allows consumers of electricity to pay for only what they consume is one sure way to having stable electricity supply.

“For emphasis and clarity, let me also say that the previous administration had approved the tariff in January 2015 but what they did was not to fully implement it.

“The implementation was suspended at the onset of elections and after elections. The operators asked government to implement and pay for what they had produced.

“I think the outages we saw during and after elections was because the gas companies were not paid.

“At the onset of this administration, the first batch of debt was paid and that is why power went up and which prompted some of the outages that are being experienced now.

“So, what we expect to do is to liquidate the verifiable and agreed debt that have accrued and to approve a market tariff.

“For us, the surest way not to have power is to oppose the implementation of the tariff order; without a tariff system, there will be no power.

“As at May 2015, many contractors had stopped work because of payment. Many families; husbands, wives, had to be laid off,” the Minister stated.

Credit: ChannelsTV

Airport Remodelling: FG Orders Contractors To Return N17.6bn

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The federal government yesterday ordered contractors handling the remodelling of airports across the country, who failed to deliver their various remodelling projects, to return the funds they collected to government’s purse.

Aviation minister, Chief Osita Chidoka, who gave the directive, also offered reasons why the planned re-establishment of a national carrier for Nigeria had not seen the light of day since the liquidation of Nigeria Airways in 2003.

LEADERSHIP learnt that at the commencement of the exercise, the minister had taken $88 million from the Bilateral Air Service Agreements (BASA), deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as one of the signatories to the account.

A former supervising minister in the sector, Chief Samuel Ortom, had declared that former aviation minister, Princess Stella Oduah, left behind N174 billion debts from the remodelling exercise, an allegation Oduah had not debunked.

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No Bridge Collapsed In Kano – Commissioner

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Against the backdrop of the media report that a bridge collapsed in Kano, the Kano State commissioner for works, housing and transport, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf, has described the media report as inaccurate, considering the fact that it was a concrete beam that slipped and not a bridge collapse.

In his address to newsmen in his office, the commissioner said what happened was an accident which happens in many construction sites.

He said the construction company was not at fault and there was no evidence of substandard work that caused the slip of the concrete beam which killed three people.

Yusuf stated that the incident was the will of Allah who destined for the deceased to die the way they did.

“As the incident occurred, we had to deploy heavy duty vehicles to be able to move the concrete beam but we couldn’t, and this proved the quality of the work. We had to bring in heavy duty hacksaw machines to divide the concrete beam into three before it was moved”, he narrated.

Yusuf added that there were four similar concrete beams already mounted on the pillars of the pedestrian bridge and they had been there for days; the last one was mounted and technical work was ongoing to tie it up when the taxi encroached and accidentally, the beam fell on it.

He said that the construction company has done quite a number of quality construction works for Kano State government including the same Sheikh Jaafar road, where the pedestrian bridge was under construction.

He stressed that only biased minds would call for the technical audit of all the bridges that were constructed and already handed over to government, adding that what should be taken into cognisance is that the pedestrian bridge in question is still under construction.