NewsPolitics

How Kwara Ministry inflated Ilesha-Baruba road contract with over N750m – CSO

By Mumini Abdulkareem
The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Kwara-based Civil Society Organization known for its #FollowKwaraMoney, has accused the Ministry of Works of inflating the contract sum of Ilesha Baruba – Gwanara road with a sum of Seven Hundred and Fifty-One Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty-Seven Naira, Twenty-Two Kobo (₦751,551,647:22)
In a letter by its Coordinator, Dr. Alagbonsi Abdullateef and submitted to the Governor through the SSA Monitoring and Evaluation on 10th November, 2020, ENetSuD said:
“As part of ENetSuD’s thoroughness in subjecting an approved BEME to preliminary examination to crosscheck the contract sum even before visiting the project site, we discovered that the approved BEME for the project (which was made available to us by your Focal Person, SSA Monitoring and Evaluation) is grossly incorrect as the contract sum has been inflated by Seven Hundred and Fifty-One Million, Five Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand, Six Hundred and Forty-Seven Naira, Twenty-Two kobo (₦751,551,647:22).
“This means that the correct contract sum as per the quantity and rates approved in the BEME for all the items is supposed to be Two Billion, Two Hundred and Ninety-Six Million, Five Hundred and Seventy-Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira, Twenty-Eight kobo (₦2,296,577,700.28).
ENetSuD prayed the Governor to ensure the re-consideration of the project BEME and re-approval of the correct contract sum (₦2,296,577,700.28) by the SEC and also advised the Governor to use the excess of ₦751,551,647:22 for another priority project in the State.
The Ilesha Baruba – Gwanara road is among the six (6) projects that ENetSuD is evaluating through the Kwara Social Audit proposed by the Governor, which has the group Society as the first CSO that is executing it.
However, the ministry in a statement by the Press Secretary, Mansurat Amuda-Kannike denied the report and quoted the commissioner, Iliasu Rotimi saying the government acted in the best interest of the state, a claim which ENetSuD rejected. It further accused the commissioner of failure to do a thorough calculation of the BEME of the project and refusal to respond to the issues raised in its report.
Meanwhile, ENetSuD in its preliminary report of the Social Audit regarding Government High School (GHS), Adeta has complained to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of the shoddy work done on the project.
In the 14-page report, ENetSuD told the Governor that the execution of the project is poor and may not pass its qualitative and quantitative tests unless the contractor and the supervising ministry make the necessary adjustments before its completion.
The release by ENetSuD confirmed the report of National Pilot regarding the shoddy execution of the contract by a Lagos-based Company allegedly owned by a crony of the Governor which was awarded at N360 million. The execution of the job enraged the local contractors who berated the development.
According to EnetSuD in its report on the observation on the GHS project, “the contractor did not follow the proper sequence of building construction work as the work was done haphazardly, which shows that there was no supervision of the work by the relevant Ministry. PVC ceiling (which is cheaper, less durable, and has no fire resistance) was used by the contractor instead of the asbestos cement ceiling specified in the BOQ. Where metal windows existed before the contract execution, the contractor reused them and the doors and repainted them only without providing a new one as provided in the BoQ.
“The painting of walls ought to be preceded by preparatory steps to remedy the existing wall defects but such basic and mandatory steps were not carried out. Moreover, the painting was already done on buildings where works were still ongoing, whereas painting is supposed to be the last stage of the construction works. Thus, the painting works are not professionally acceptable”, among others.

Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button