260 Contractors Face Contract Revocation as FG Hands Down 3-month Ultimatum

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, yesterday gave contractors handling 260   emergency road rehabilitation projects awarded by the Bola Tinubu administration a deadline  of three months  to complete  and deliver the projects or face termination of their contracts.

The ultimatum  was issued during  a meeting of the management of the Federal Ministry of Works alongside the Federal Controllers of Works, with the contractors handling the various projects held at the ministry’s headquarters in Mabushi, Abuja.

The emergency road projects were appropriated for in the 2023 supplementary budget with the intention to bring  immediate  intervention on the completely failed parts of critical  federal roads  nationwide  with a view to restoring  the serviceability level of the affected roads.

Umahi listed about 37 contractors who had achieved  little  or no milestones in the project delivery since the contracts were awarded and warned that such contractors must mobilise effectively  to the site latest  Wednesday July 10, 2024 or face cancellation of their contracts.

“If after the deadline  for mobilisation to the site, any contractor  fails to comply, the job shall be terminated by effluxion of time as the contract is for  a time limit of three months.

 “Any contractor whose job has stayed  for more than three months without  completion after the issuance of award letter must seek and obtain approval for extension of time from the Federal Ministry of Works,” a statement by the minister’s spokesman, Uchenna Orji, quoted him as saying.

Most of the defaulting  contractors, the statement said, are handling emergency road projects  in Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Abia, Anambra, Imo, Akwa Ibom,  Bayelsa, Cross River and River States.

The minister warned them that the  projects awarded to them must be delivered in three months  time as no excuse of security  challenges  or lack of mobilisation funds would  justify the sufferings they are subjecting road users to.

He further threatened to blacklist the defaulting contracting firms who he said are constituting a cog in the wheel of progress in the efforts of the current administration  in ‘revolutionising’ road  infrastructure for Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

 Umahi said: “The people are suffering, the president is having sleepless nights in his efforts to fix our road infrastructure to help our economy, and 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 queried.

 He further gave marching  orders to the  Federal Controllers of Works to ensure  proper supervision  of projects in their  sites and be abreast with the contracts awarded, amount, date of award, timeline, review date, extension of time, augmentation granted and whether the contractor is on site.

Umahi reiterated  that  mobilisation funding  under  the standard conditions of contract  was not a condition precedent for them to move to the site, but at the discretion  of the Federal Ministry of Works.

According to him, this can be made available only to contractors  who can undertake through affidavit of commitment to complete the job within three months of mobilisation.

He added: “Our new policy is that if you want mobilisation and we are happy to give you, you will abide by the conditions. One is that there will be no review of any component of the mobilisation given.

“Two, we will give you 30 per cent and you will do 30 per cent of work before we can give you another money. So please, mobilisation is not compulsory. Again, emergency projects are not mobilised. The rule is that in emergency projects, you will  go and  do it 100 per cent, and then you submit your papers.

“We will now pay you 80 per cent and send your documents to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). When they approve, we pay you the balance of 20 per cent.”

 In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Yakubu Kofarmata, stated  that the time had gone when contractors were taking the country  for granted and could  afford to delay in job delivery for years  after  collecting mobilisation and would  keep feeding on the issue of variation of prices.

He charged  contractors  to brace  up to the new spirit of “Nigeria first,” introduced in the Federal Ministry of Works under the current administration.

He said: “Honestly, we have a stake. It is about the Nigerian nation. We don’t have any other country other than Nigeria. Believe me, we are pushing the  minister right now to stop considering this VoP and augmentation, because, there is no reason, after being given an award letter, you come and say you are waiting for payment for six months.

“Let us consider the nation first. Once we put Nigeria first, you see that things will move.”