The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC has worked out strategies to<\/p>\n
expose and punish contractors who default in the execution of its
\nprojects.<\/p>\n
The new measures were outlined by the Commission\u2019s Managing Director, Mrs.
\nIbim Semenitari, at a meeting with the Imo State governor, Owelle Rochas
\nOkorocha, at his residence in Owerri on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Briefing the governor on her findings after a two-day inspection of
\nprojects in Imo State, Mrs. Semenitari said that the NDDC would upload the
\nlist of all its projects on its website to show clearly who is doing what
\nand where.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI have directed that we immediately upload to the NDDC website
\nthe list of projects that we have. We will state the status as it is in
\nour books, so that communities can tell us if that status report is
\ncorrect. We will also state the name of the contractor. So, we will like
\nto advise our contractors in all the nine states covered by the NDDC to
\nknow that the searchlight is going to beam on them from all quarters, not
\njust from the commission. The commission will be there, the state
\ngovernors will be there and the communities will be there and the people
\nof Nigeria will be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NDDC boss said that the commission\u2019s Project Monitoring and
\nSupervision directorate would carry out an audit of the projects executed
\nin Imo State, assuring the governor that anyone found to be involved in
\nshort-changing the people of the state, whether contractor or NDDC staff
\nwould not go free.<\/p>\n
She lamented that the contractor handling the N6 billion Isinweke Road,
\nconnecting Imo and Abia States, abandoned the site without any
\nexplanation. \u201cWe cannot claim to be an interventionist agency and not
\ninsist that corruption is wiped out. Mr. President has directed that we
\nshould do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Semenitari also solicited the assistance of the governor to call the
\ndefaulting contractors to order. \u201cWe will like you to work with us because
\nsome of these contractors are your sons so we would like you to help us to
\nrein them in. we need to get them to understand that we are in a new era,
\na new wind of change. They should be made to understand that they can no
\nlonger be allowed to take the money of our people and not deliver on
\nprojects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that I will ask you to discuss when you meet with your
\nbrother governors, especially as the leader of the All Progressive
\nCongress Governors Forum, and as Owelle Ndigbo, is to tell them that
\nwhenever we are able to show that a contractor is not performing, on any
\njob, then whether at the state level, federal or local government level,
\nsuch a contractor should be blacklisted from doing business or any other
\nwork in any other part of this country. That is the only way we can
\nsanitize the system. Contractors that default on contracts should not be
\nallowed to continue to get jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs. Semenitari said she was disturbed the practice of some contractors
\nwho put up sign boards, claiming to be working for NDDC.\u00a0 She explained
\nthat before people embark on NDDC projects, the site must be properly
\nhanded over to them. \u201cContractors cannot just mobilize to site once they
\nhave bided for jobs, there is a process and when they put up the sign
\nposts and don\u2019t do any work, the commission continues to get a bad image\u201d
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, Owelle Rochas Okorocha said that the NDDC was at a new
\nbeginning and, therefore, needed time to clean up the system. He said,
\nhowever, that he expected the new chief executive officer to get the
\ncontractors to live up to expectations, especially those working on
\nprojects in Imo State.<\/p>\n
According to the governor, \u201cit is obvious that NDDC has paid so much money
\nto contractors who have not performed. That is the bottom line. That is an
\nurgent matter that must be addressed first. We are not talking about new
\nprojects now. If all the old projects are executed in line with the
\ncontract terms, I am sure Imo State will benefit from NDDC.<\/p>\n
He said further: \u201cWhile I commend you, I think that you have a lot of work
\nto do. We need to sanitize the NDDC and get old jobs done. We are not
\nsaying you should arrest; we are only saying that they should get back to
\nsite to do the jobs for which money has been paid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC has worked out strategies to expose and punish contractors who default in the execution of its projects. The new measures were outlined by the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n