Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike has warned contractors handling the rehabilitation of 135 roads in the capital city and civil engineering services against contract variations.
Wike, who gave the warning while inaugurating the projects in Abuja on Monday, disclosed that the projects would be completed in six months.
The minister promised that the FCTA would pay all the contractors their money to enable them to complete the project within the agreed timeline.
“To the contractors, let me warn you now, all these things you are doing with engineering services will not work again. Nothing like variation; it will not work. Kobo, one naira, in the next seven days it becomes N15, it will not work again. It will not work, so don’t even try it. There is no variation in this job.
“We have the money to pay you. So, if you like to go to engineering services and do anything with them, it will not work. We are paying you your money and I assure you that nobody will owe you a dime. We are going to pay you and you must finish within the time we have agreed with you,” he said.
He also warned the permanent secretary, of the FCT Administration, Mr. Olusade Adesola not to bring any paper asking for reconsideration or a file for unanticipated issues, saying that everything has been considered and anticipated.
The minister urged residents to support the contractors to enable them to finish the job on time, adding that no development comes without some pains.
He also solicited the support of traditional rulers to ensure that the youths and all residents of their communities support the contractors to deliver the job on time.
Earlier, the minister of state, FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, said that the FCT Administration has recorded significant achievements in transforming the capital city, barely three weeks after Wike resumed office.
Mahmoud said that the issue of streetlights has been addressed; the problem of sanitation was being attended to, and now the road infrastructure would be transformed to impact positively on the residents.
The statement added that 12 other interventions are scheduled for completion before December 2024.
The States to benefit from the interventions include Abia, Rivers, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Lagos, Ekiti, Niger, Sokoto, Enugu, Gombe, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, Ondo, Osun, Bayelsa, Imo and FCT.
MSME partners collaborating with the Office of the Vice President to execute these interventions include Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), among others.
