Hyacinth Chinweuba
Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Sani Bello who is celebrating his administrations five years, has vowed that it will no longer going to be business as usual in the State.
Bello said the government would not tolerate anything that will set progress back assuring that his administration is determined to complete all ongoing projects in the
State.
In this regards, the first sledgehammer of the Governor has hit the Contractors handling the Zariyawa area road construction in Suleja as the Governor is considering probable revocation of the contract with the company, after following due process.
According to Mary Noel-Berje, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Niger State,
“The Governor’s decision was propelled by the height of incompetency displayed by the Contractor during the inspection of ongoing road rehabilitation projects by the Governor in Suleja in continuation of his projects inspection tour across the State.”
He said with over 70 per cent fund accessed by the “Ja Joves Solutions Services (JSS) for the Zariyawa road, the contractor could not attain 30 per cent of work, an indication that the company is not capable of handling such projects negating the Spirit of a new era.
The Governor who also faulted the Ministry of Works and Infrastructural Development for giving out a contract to a company that has no capability says the ministry should go back to the drawing board with the company and evaluate the work done so far with a view to re-awarding it to a more competent company as soon as possible.
He pointed out that the road is of immense importance to the people of the area as it links villages with the larger society.
The road which is about 10km has experienced a lot of setbacks as it was first awarded in 2016 hence the need to complete it before the end of the year.
The Maje-Suleja Road project however received commendation of the Governor who expressed satisfaction, saying that the company has proven its competency as within two weeks on site, they have already covered 1km out of 5kilometres.
He said with the pace of work by the company, the project could be completed within few weeks.
The Maje-Suleja Road has been in a dilapidated state for years but has now received the attention of the Government.
Another road the governor said would be visited in Suleja as soon as the contractor is mobilized to site is the Jubilee road.
Acknowledging the need to make life easy for the citizenry, the Governor re- assured the people of the State that his administration will not relent in building infrastructure, pointing out that they are Panacea for development as well as part of the basic dividends of Democracy.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Works, Engineer Ibrahim Mohammed Panti expressed concern over the pace of work with the Zariyawa Road construction, saying despite the amount accessed by the company the work carried out obviously indicates that something is wrong and that they will get to the bottom of the matter.