Minister threatens to revoke N3.4bn contracts

Minister threatens to revoke N3.4bn contracts

The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Dr. Steve Oru, has threatened to revoke the contracts for two of the nine skill acquisition centres in the Niger Delta over poor and delayed contract execution.

The two contracts are the Skill Acquisition Centre in Otuke, in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State and the one for Ibeno in Akwa Ibom State awarded for N3.4bn.

The companies involved in the execution of the contract for the two centres are Stegis International Agencies Nigeria Limited, Salem Cat Limited, Enorasol International Limited, Ogbosite International Limited, El-Hanen Ventures Limited, Verity Concept Limited and Y.S. Associates Limited

The Otuoke Centre is expected to be a centre for the training of youths in oil and gas, maritime studies, Information and Communication Technology and how to assemble ipad and mobile telephones on completion.

The minister summoned the contracting firms to his office and lambasted them for shoddy execution of the contracts, which he said lacked the appropriate supervision.

He told the two contractors that the level and the quality of job done on the centres was too poor to be acceptable to the Federal Government.

He therefore issued a two-month ultimatum to the contractor handling the Otuoke Centre and a six-month period of grace to the firm handling the Ibeno Centre to complete the projects or face the wrath of the government.

He said, “The impression we had before the visit were of Otuoke being ready for commissioning by the President at any given date and that this would be followed by the commissioning of Ibeno.

“But contrary to what we had on paper in the office here when I was being briefed, we were in a state of shock by what we saw first at Otuoke, which we thought was already fully completed.