NAN-H-77
Warning
By Sunday John
Lafia, Aug. 22, 2017 (NAN) The Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has warned that it will sanction contractors that abandoned projects awarded to them in the state.
The Chairman of the board, Mallam Musa Danazumi, issued the warning on Tuesday when he met with some contractors in Lafia, the state capital.
Danazumi expressed dissatisfaction over the failure by some contracting firms in the state to move to site three months after government had paid them 15 per cent mobilisation fees.
“We awarded these contracts and agreed that the projects would be completed in three months time; but here we are, still discussing contractors moving to site.
“We cannot tolerate this habit from any contractor; so you either move to site immediately and start work or face revocation of the contract,” he warned.
He disclosed that the board had set up a team to go round the project sites to monitor the progress of work.
Danazumi said that the monitoring team would commence work next week and warned that any contractor not found on site would have himself or herself to blame.
The chairman also expressed disappointment with some of the erring contractors who were absent from the meeting.
“Of over 400 contractors we engaged, not up to 100 have attended the meeting.”
Mr Kasimu Tukur, representing Canonic Associates, a consulting firm supervising one of the contracts, also condemned the practice of abandoning projects by some contractors in the state.
Some of the contractors, however, attributed their inability to commence work to the failure by their banks to release the mobilisation fees to them.
Suleiman Tanko and Namairo Babayo, representatives of Namairo and Sons Nigeria Limited, said their banks refused to release the mobilisation fee for the contract awarded to the company.
According to them, the banks insisted that the board must “write to suit them (banks},” before releasing the fund. (NAN)
SDJ/KOO/EMO
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Edited by Kevin Okunzuwa/Ejike Obeta