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George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Former principal secretary to ex- Governor Rochas Okorocha and member representing Ideato North / South Federal Constituency, Dr. Paschal Obi has told the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into contracts awarded between 2007 -2019 how a contractor who was awarded a contract for a project designated ‘Sundry Capital Project’ at Area K World Bank, Owerri bolted after being paid the sum of $110 million (N39.6 billion) without executing the project.
This was just as he expressed shock that most contracts awarded by the Okorocha’s administration did not have any contract agreement signed by the contractors.
Dr. Obi stated this at the resumed sitting of the judicial commission at the weekend.
The erstwhile principal secretary to Okorocha who was also discovered to have signed contract award letters without the contractor signing the contract agreement, disclosed that the contractor for the Sundry Capital Project absconded with the funds given to him for the project without executing the contract.
He also disclosed that the women of Owerri community had stopped the project from execution adding that the contractor had since taken the state government to court over the project.
The former principal secretary, however, expressed surprise that most of the contracts awarded by the Okorocha administration did not have contract agreements signed by contractors.
The commission discovered that most of the major contracts awarded under the Okorocha administration did not have contract agreements executed by both the government and the contractors while contract sums were fully paid for.
Similarly, the commission discovered that some of the contracts did not have case files despite their values being in billions while others were fully paid for without executing the contracts.
However, fielding questions from a witness dock , Dr. Obi, who personally signed the contracts as the chairman of the Government House Task Force Projects Committee, expressed surprise that the contractors did not sign contract agreements and still received payments from his office.
He disclosed that the Task Force committee headed by him, was used to replace the State Tenders Board.
According to him, as the man in charge of the award of contracts, he signed his own column of the contact agreements and sent same to the office of the secretary of the task force to ensure every contractor signed their own before they were paid mobilisation fees.
Responding to a question on why the sum of N650 million was paid each for construction of the new ministries of Transport and Land’s offices without the contract being awarded while the building could not be found anywhere in the state, he said he was not in a position to know the projects executed because he was not in charge of project inspection.
He disclosed that ex-Governor, Rochas Okorocha was in charge of projects inspection and should be held responsible for any substandard projects or ones paid for but not executed.
On why some of the contracts like the internal roads in Ihitte Uboma local government area and a project designated as Sunrise Park were not listed in any files as contracts awarded despite billions of naira paid for them, Obi also expressed surprise to see that, saying he did not know the locations.
The commission also discovered that in January 2013, a contract was awarded for the construction of Egbeada-Afor Umuaka Road at the cost of N2.4 billion at the recommendation of the committee led by the then secretary to the government of Imo State, but was curiously cancelled and re-awarded to another contractor at the cost of N3.6 billion two weeks later by Dr. Obi.
But, Dr. Obi’s in his response said that he was only a civil servant and was bound to carry out instructions given to him by the governor.
He however stated that there were new bills of quantity from another contractor that jerked up the price.
He was also asked to clarify why the contract for the new state High Court Complex was awarded in three different titles — Justice Oputa High Court Complex; Imo State Judiciary Headquarters and Imo State Judiciary Complex– with monies paid for each of them in billions.
Dr. Obi insisted that the projects were in existence and that the contracts were given to three different contractors whom he said delivered.
He added that there was need to get the architectural designs from the state Ministry of Works to confirm their existence.
Also, the commission discovered that the principal secretary received several billions of naira from the office of the accountant general of the state without anyone tied to any projects.
For instance, the commission discovered from the records that on May 21, 2014, the principal secretary received N5 billion, N2 billion, N1 billion, N800 million and several others same day without tying them to any projects.
But Obi insisted that the majority of the payments made from his office were tied to contracts, disclosing that any money given to his office had 100 percent approval from the governor.
