February 27, (THEWILL) — The Commissioner for Project Monitoring and Evaluation in Ebonyi State, Engineer Felix Igboke Ogbonna, has disclosed that the Ebonyi State government has launched aggressive arrests against erring contractors in the State, especially contractors who breached contractual specifications.
Igboke stated this on Friday while fielding questions from journalists in Abakaliki on the progress of contract execution in the State.
He said what some Ebonyi people tagged as a delay in projects was not that work was not ongoing, but due to the time frame expected for the projects’ completion.
The Commissioner explained that, contrary to public expectations that contract awardees in the state should be arrested, various contractors handling most government projects were the ones who entered into an agreement with the state government, and on breach of their contracts, they were arrested.
He disclosed that there was no week that the ministry did not arrest one or two erring engineers on site. He dismissed public speculations that some contractors were given preferential treatment, and adduced reasons why the arrests were not often made public.
Igboke said his ministry has been embarking on deliberate and strategic supervision of contracts awarded by the state government in various communities, clans, and villages in Ebonyi State to ensure contractors adhere to contractual specifications and do the right things.
He further explained the mandate of the ministry, “The truth is, you know, human beings are one of the most difficult people to deal with. No matter how highly placed that person could be, you might be where you are, you send your contractors to come and execute a project, some contractors or engineers on site might try to do some funny things.
“Of course, if not properly supervised or followed up, they will definitely do so. So, as these jobs are coming out from one ministry or another, it could be the Ministry of Works, it could be the Ministry of Infrastructure, it could be any ministry that is directly supervising these contracts. So that ministry prepares the Bill of Quantities, the BEME, and there will be a contract agreement between them and the contractor.
“When the document gets to my ministry, that is when we take off. That Bill of Quantities and Design, that is the BEME, is what is going to guide the Ministry of Project Monitoring and Evaluation to do its job. And if I tell you we don’t see people doing some funny things over the project, I’ll be lying to you.
“But what do we do? Our main job as a service-oriented ministry is not to witch-hunt any contractor, is not to collect money from any contractor, and it is not to create content or hype ourselves while doing our job. Our main duty is to make sure that the projects are being executed accordingly. When I say accordingly, I mean both in terms of specifications, the quality, and the time agreed in the agreement”, he said.
According to the Commissioner, most projects initiated by the state government were already completed and were in use, questioning why there were criticisms on uncompleted projects.
“As Ebonyians are saying, commission, commission, commission, my question has always been, you that is scrambling for commissioning, commissioning, commissioning, why are you using the road? Why are you plying it? Why not wait until it’s commissioned before you pass through it? That is the thing here.
“There’s no road that has been completed in Ebonyi State and blocked so that the masses should not use it until it’s commissioned. As the projects have been executed, the masses are using them. That is the truth.
“Let me tell you one thing. What we, as a ministry, are praying for is for our governor to have the time for commissioning because so many projects are ready for commissioning. As you speak, you mentioned more of this road. Do you know how many kilometres the road is? It’s 20-something kilometres, and so many other roads.”
The commissioner stated that, contrary to the governor’s proposal of using three months, commencing from May, to embark on project commissioning, the governor will commission projects even after his re-election.
“I can assure you that when the governor says I’ve started commissioning a project, that commission of the project will not stop until after the election. It’s just for him to have the time. He will be commissioning projects any day he has the chance.
“He won’t have any official duty to do in his office. He wants to be in the field. He will be moving from one local government to another, from one community to another, from one clan to another. So, I can keep my head high to say that our governor has delivered on his mandate. That is the truth. He has even surpassed what he promised Ebonyians. What I would tell Ebonyians is to calm down”, he admonished.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
