The Senate on Monday frowned at the non-completion of road projects by contractors across the country.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Senator Mpigi Barinada, made this known when the Minister of Works, David Umahi, appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Works for the 2024 budget defence.
In his remarks, Barinada, who frowned at the attitude of the contractors, said that the Senate would stop at nothing to ensure there was no wastage of government funds and taxpayers’ money.
He said: “We frown at a situation where contractors will be mobilised, and on visiting their sites by virtue of oversight, at most of those sites, you won’t find contractors.
“For instance, the contractor handling the rehabilitation of Aba-Owerri Road, Abia, has been mobilised. As we speak, he has not done any job. He has collected about N76 million. Rehabilitation of 21 km of Bende road in Abia linking Akwa Ibom; the contractor has been paid N445 million and above; no performance.”
Sen. Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (PDP, Kogi) also said: “About N336 billion had been spent on the second Niger Bridge. And we were told that the bridge will stay inoperative if we do not have two critical roads completed, and that, as stated, will amount to N260 billion.
“This has not been provided for in the funding. It is also important that you deploy a holistic approach in deciding the road network in Nigeria so that we don’t have items A and B completed and therefore items A and C, which are critical to the function of B, will not be fixed.
“The Abuja-Lokoja-Auchi road—that road has been under construction for very much over 20 years. Year in, year out, we have observed budgetary provision but it has not been completed and several lives have been lost almost on a daily basis.
“It connects approximately 20 states and looking at the budget, the only thing I have seen that connects Okene is the special repair of the Okene-Ajaokuta-Itakpe road at N10 million. We should take this road, the Abuja-Lokoja Okene-Auchi road, as a priority.”
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Local Content, said that in road construction, as much as possible, a vital part of the raw materials should be sourced in Nigeria.
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