Posted by By TIMOTHY OLA, Maiduguri on
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel, Hon Ndudi Godwin Elumelu has disclosed that the committee discovered monumental failure at the sites of the Maiduguri power projects, adding that there was nothing on ground to justify the over N4 billion mobilization fee collected by the contractors since 2006.
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power and Steel, Hon Ndudi Godwin Elumelu has disclosed that the committee discovered monumental failure at the sites of the Maiduguri power projects, adding that there was nothing on ground to justify the over N4 billion mobilization fee collected by the contractors since 2006.
Hon Elumelu who made the disclosure during the visit of the committee to the state said: 'We are in Borno because there are some projects that have been alleged to be- on-going in Maiduguri and some other areas. These include the 330 substation and 332 KV substations. The 332 KV is being handled by channel engineering and it cost the sum of N1.8 billion. A total of N733, 714,905.42 has been released to this contractor."
He said the committee found that the contract was awarded in March 2006 and the contractor was mobilized on June 29, 2006, alleging that some government officials might have put the money in fixed account while the project which ought to have been completed in 2007 was abandoned.
'I speak to you today from what we saw at the site; there was nothing to convince us that they were serious contractors. You can see the kind of atrocities that are being committed to our nation by so called contractors in the name of executing the power projects," he said.
The chairman also painted a dismal picture of the 330KV Damaturu-Maiduguri-Gombe power line project awarded at a cost of N5.7billion. He expressed dissatisfaction over the level of work even when the contractor has been mobilized with about N4.2billion, saying only ground work was seen at the site.
'This is a project that was supposed to be completed since last year," he added.
He noted that the various claims and counter-claims made by contractors, consultants, ministry of power and steel, that of finance, the DG due process, Accountant General, Auditor General, Attorney General of the Federation, CBN governor and other MDs of different agencies who appeared before the committee during the public hearings on the power projects executed by the last administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, compelled it to tour all the project sites with a view to making informed recommendations to the lower house.
Responding, the state governor, Sen Ali Sheriff said he was shocked to learn that over N5 billion was spent on projects in his state even without his knowledge as the chief executive.
'As a governor, I am hearing this for the first time that over N5billion has been spent in my state since I assumed in office. All this while, my assumption is that Federal Government has not done any project in our state and that has always been our statement."
He said the state government would have been sending periodic reports to the federal ministry in charge of the projects on the progress of works at the site if it had been informed of the contract.