Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Tuesday threatened to initiate legislative process for the termination of the multi-billion naira remodelling of the Port Harcourt International Airport terminal contract sequel to undue delay in the completion of the project.
The House resolution was sequel to the report presented by Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation over the lackadaisical attitude of the contractor handling the projects and failure to deliver the project as stipulated in the contract agreement.
The Minister who spoke during the 2017/2018 budget defence of the Aviation sector of Federal Ministry of Transportation, alleged that contractor whom he described as a “difficult old man” wilfully delayed work on the project despite full payment of the contract sum.
Sirika noted that after securing funding for the job, he had to drag the contractor to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) where a commitment was extracted from the contractor regarding the timeline within which he would finish the job.
He further accused the contractor of changing the scope of work without government’s approval, requesting for about two variations to the contract sum, as well as shifting the timeline for the completion of work.
The Minister aid as a senator, he was on an oversight to the airport in 2014 where it was found that there was a contract for expansion that was not being done by the contractor whom he described as an”extremely difficult old man to deal with.”
While speaking, Shuaibu Zakari, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Managing Director of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), also confirmed that the contractor after abandoning the site only hurried back, having gotten wind of an impromptu visit by Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, with the view to create the impression that he’s on site working.
While noting that about N800 million was paid to enable the contractor conclude the job, they argued that the Contractor has continued to slow the pace of work to the point of abandoning the site altogether.
In her remarks, Nkieruka Onyejeocha, chairperson, House Committee on Aviation who warned that nobody should hold Nigeria to ransom, disclosed that there are laws with which to deal with such a contractor.
She wondered how a contractor would be fully paid and would not go to site to finish a job for which he had received payment.
“Nobody can hold the country to ransom because, in contractual agreements, there is always a timeline, and once that timeline elapses, you are no longer a contractor.
“So, we are saying that we can no more continue to condone such behaviour because he’s not the only contractor working in Nigeria.
“We heard there was a six month ultimatum that was given, even before we went there, and we were told it had expired.
“We are giving you people and the contractor till the first quarter of this year to have that job delivered or the Parliament will terminate that contract and have the man refund back the money he has taken,” Onyejeocha threatened.
On his part, Inombek Abiante (PDP-Rivers) accused the minister of lack of gut to deal with the difficult contractor, saying that “government is a continuum” and that the minister must do his job of supervising the aviation sector effectively.
While responding, Sirika assured that his team is fully in control of the situation and have given the contractor three to four months to complete the job or face the repercussions.
While ruling, the Committee mandated the Minister and officials of Procurement and Finance departments to give explanations on the state of work on the new Port Harcourt airport terminal.
KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
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