Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday condemned the abuse of contract variation in the territory and pointed out the specific case of Ushafa-Bwari Road contract which varied from N50 billion to N200 billion, saying it is unacceptable.
The Minister who threatened to overhaul the engineering services of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) noted that the little revenue of the FCTA must be judiciously utilised.
“I have never seen a thing like this before in my life. What you see in the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is shocking. Contract variation from N10bn to N120bn, from N50bn to N200bn. It is alarming and I am not going to accept it.” He fumed
“Even the engineering service, we are going to overhaul the entire system” the minister added.
Wike further lamented that “it was unfortunate that while we went to the Ushafa-Bwari road, it was very embarrassing, and this is not what we are going to take. The job was awarded in 2017 at the cost of N20bn, in 2020 they revised the contract sum to N50bn.
As I speak to you, we have paid almost N50bn, what is outstanding from what the man in charge has said is N900m, and now the N900m will not be enough to complete the job that they have done about 90percent and thereby we move to another variation. This is what we are not going to accept”
He also said “we will utilize the IGR to tie it to specific projects, so that will reduce the abandoning of projects in the FCT. On Monday we are flagging off the resurfacing of most of the roads in Garki, Maitama, because the roads are terribly bad. I will make sure that the contractors are also paid”.
And to check the menace of abandoned and uncompleted projects in the territory, Wike said his administration plans to fund ten priority projects.
The Minister who said he would commence repair of major roads within the capital city next week hinted that the projects will be financed through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the FCTA.
Wike also spoke about the readiness of the FCTA under his leadership to ensure the speedy completion of the Usuma Water project which was to boost water supplies to Abuja and its environs.
Speaking to journalists after a brief tour of the project on Thursday, Wike said: “Now, let’s come to th Usuma Water System. I was told that the contract has been awarded as an emergency contract.
“We just heard it now that it has not been awarded fully. Just a mere letter of intent to the contractor since August, last year (2022).
We know the importance of this because it supplies water to our people in the city and its environment.”
“Water is very important, so I have directed that it is not an emergency again, If something has happened since last year, you call it an emergency till now, it is no longer an emergency.
“If at all it was an emergency, we are going to start all over, and we are going to supervise the procurement process and we will allow other companies to bid as far as this project is concerned. So, it is alarming.”
