Politics
The Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has cautioned contractors against poor execution of constituency projects cited in communities for the benefit of the people.
Mr Laban Rakum, the Superintendent, ICPC Bauchi Office, gave the warning in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kalarin community, Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe state.
Rakum stated that the warning became imperative in view of the observations made from the inspection tour of constituency projects across Gombe state, where some defects were noticed with projects execution by contractors.
”We have observed a contractor that did poorly on site. For the contractors who have done poorly, we are together with a team of quantity surveyors and they are taking note of all the defects.
”We are also conscious of all issues that has to do with the technicalities and as soon as they are through with their report, we are going to call on the contractors and we are going to straighten our records.
”Sometimes, it will require the contractors coming back to site to complete those things that were omitted in the design and sometimes, we also recover the funds for the missing part of the project,” he said.
According to him, ICPC is bent on following up every constituency project, to be able to track all projects, while sensitising communities on how to monitor and report when they noticed shoddy jobs.
The ICPC official stated that the commission had mandate to blacklist contractors based on their poor performance on the field.
”When we see a repeated shoddy job, we can make recommendations to agencies and blacklist that contractor.
”For this particular job, it is going to be dependent on the outcome from investigation,’’ he said.
He added that it was no longer going to be business as usual for contractors handling constituency projects.
Rakum, who is also the team lead for the Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Group (CEPTG) for Gombe state, said they were also sensitising the communities to take ownership of the projects, to ensure their sustainability.
Malam Yunusa Adamu, a farmer from Kalarin community in Kaltungo LGA, said he was happy about the project coming to his community, but expressed dissatisfaction with the low quality of the job done.
”The infrastructures are not there, chairs and other facilities were not supplied and there was no sign board to tell us about the projects, when the classroom was being constructed.
”This is a constituency project. It is my money and our money, so we expect the best for our money and not this. That is why the ICPC should help us to ensure the right thing is done,” he pleaded.
Adamu insisted that the project contractors and sponsors, should be summoned to correct the defects observed, noting that this is part of corruption and if it is not up to specification, then corruption had set in.
He commended the Federal Government, the ICPC, ActionAid International and all the CSOs for their collaborative efforts in this regard.
”We as a people deserve your best in this country,” he said.
NAN reports that the ICPC inspected a total of 20 units of two classroom blocks and 22 units of three blocks of classroom projects in Akko, Shongom, Kaltungo and Yamaltu/Deba LGAs of the state. The total cost of the projects is put at N578 million. (NAN)
– Jul. 9, 2020 @ 13:35 GMT |
Tags: ICPC cautions contractors over poor execution of constituency projects
