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•Laud Reps for opposing concrete roads
Contractors handling Federal Government road projects have opposed a recent directive to return to site without reviewing their contract sums, arguing that it was not feasible in the light of Nigeria’s economic realities
The contractors who lauded the House of Representatives for suspending moves by Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, to adopt concrete for road construction, particularly argued that they were not to blame for inflation and fall in the value of the naira.
His colleague in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, recently told contractors handling the rehabilitation of roads in the capital city and other civil engineering services that he would not condone variations to their contract sums. He accused them of colluding with officers of the FCT to use variations to jack up the value of their contracts.
According to the sources, it was morally and legally wrong for the government to owe the road contractors for several years, and then turn around to accuse them of economic sabotage.
The sources posited that it was better for the ministers to dialogue with contractors in order to avert a situation where disagreements would sabotage President Bola Tinubu’s promise to deliver good roads as part of his “Renewed Hope” agenda.
“Honourable ministers, Nyesom Wike and Dave Umahi, were governors of Rivers and Ebonyi states respectively from 2007- 2023. They both know the prices of goods and services in 2015, and what they are now. They know how much they bought their official SUVs then and their current prices.
“Both men know how much diesel and petrol was sold for in 2015, and the current prices. They know how much sand, chipping, asphalt, and even the cost of moving goods in 2015 vis-a-vis now. Telling a man who secured a contract in 2015 that he must return to site and complete the job at 2015 price is not only unreasonable, but wicked.
“It is hard to believe that all the contractors are dubious. There’s no contractor that won’t love for Nigerians to praise his company for delivering on good roads. Unfortunately, road construction companies do not manufacture the equipment they use for work. Even if they do, they need to fuel their equipment, pay their workers, and buy things like asphalt and cement. All these things require plenty money and their prices keep changing,” noted one source
The sources said the blame for the delays in executing federal government road contracts should not be heaped at the feet of contractors, but on poor funding by successive governments at the federal level. They recalled that the immediate past FCTA minister Mohammed Bello was particularly known for delaying several payments.
Another source described Umahi’s proposal to use concrete instead of asphalt as “self-serving” saying several countries that move heavy loads on roads, including the United States and Brazil, still rely heavily on roads built with asphalt.”
“The reason they call Wike ‘Mr. Projects’ is because, as Rivers governor, he changed the procurement process to allow contractors to be paid as much as 75 percent upfront. With such level of funding, it was impossible to have abandoned road projects in Rivers State.
“As governor, Dave Umahi’s approach was direct labour. Under his watch, Ebonyi State bought several construction equipment with which his administration was able to deliver good roads,” remarked the sources, however adding that “we shouldn’t forget that such road construction projects in Rivers and Ebonyi States took a heavy financial toll on other facets of government such as education.
“Comparing the performance of both former governors on roads to what obtains at the federal government level is like comparing apples and oranges. There was a time Umahi’s predecessor, Mr. Raji Fashola disclosed that the Federal Government was owing road contractors over N10 trillion. How are they supposed to perform under such a heavy debt burden?
“At least, since former Works Minister Fashola disclosed that Federal Government has been unable to meet its financial obligations to contractors, the least what Wike and Umahi should have done was to have dialogue with the contractors on how to deliver good roads to Nigerians at reasonable prices, not to be threatening and blackmailing them,” they declared.
