Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, July 08, 2004.
FG sues contractors over N7.1 billion fraud
By Gbenga Abiodun,
State
House, Abuja
Abuja
has moved to recover N7,086,216,527 from contractors who failed to deliver on
agreements on various jobs awarded between 1976 and 1998.
At
the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday,
chaired by Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a directive was given to Federal
Attorney General Akinlolu Olujimi to plan the arraignment of the 131
contractors in court.
The
FEC also approved the implementation of the government white paper on failed
and non-performing contractors and other financial improprieties.
At
a press briefing after the meeting, Works Minister Adeseye Ogunlewe, Chairman
of the White Paper Implementation Committee, said most of the contractors have
been invited for discussion but that they have refused to pay back the sums.
In
the first report of the White Paper Implementation Committee presented to the
council, 131 failed contracts were reviewed. Of this total, 65 contracts were
from the Works Ministry, 49 (Education), 11 (Defence) and 6 (Science and
Technology).
Failed
contracts from the Ministry of Works alone are worth N6.3 billion, Defence (N2.4 million).
The
government also expects to recover N1,321,500 from contracts in the Science and
Technology Ministry, and N792,357,373 in the Ministry of Education.
Special
Adviser to the President on Inter-Party Relations Rochas Okorocha, on behalf of
Messrs Urashi Enterprises Nigeria Ltd, was among the list of defaulting
contractors who have to pay back.
However,
a section of the first quarterly report showed that some of the defaulting
contractors had written to the committee rejecting the claim for settlement.
They made counter claims in some cases.
In
the case of Okorocha, he complained about a contract to procure motorcycles,
awarded to Urashi Enterprisees, in which he sought an opportunity to state his
case “in the spirit of fair hearing”.
The
committee requested the Ministry of Police Affairs for its response to his
claims, which is still being awaited.
Ogunlewe,
however, stressed the government’s commitment to retrieve the monies.
Information
and National Orientation Minister Chukwuemeka Chikelu, who anchored the post
FEC briefing, corroborated Ogunlewe’s announcement, saying whatever the
amount in dispute, the important thing is that the government is making clear a
statement that it would not be business-as- usual whereby contractors make away
with sums of money for job not done.
“If
you have a contract to executive for the federal government for which you have
been paid, you are expected to deliver, and if you don’t deliver, you go
through the judicial process”, Chikelu stressed.
The
FEC has requested the attorney general to
tell the chief justice or the chief judges of various federal high
courts to designate a court within their judicial circuit to handle the cases.
“We
are not establishing new courts outside of the existing judicial system, but
requesting certain courts to handle this matter so that they can be
expeditiously discharged”, Chikelu explained.
Such
courts would not only try cases of failed contracts but also others involving
financial crimes. “We are going to get a report from the attorney general
as to the feasibility of that”, he added.
Special
Duties, Youth Development and Inter-governmental Affairs Minister Frank Nweke,
also at the briefing, announced that the FEC approved the award of two
ecological projects in Apomu (Osun State) and Ogbere-Awotunde Town (Oyo State).
The
project in Apomu was awarded at N149,316,763.28 the one in Ogbere-Awotunde will
cost N38,563,714.
“As usual, the projects went
through due process certification prior to presentation to the council and the
contractors that are going to handle them are as follows: Braff Contractors Ltd
for the Apomu project and Platform Nigeria Ltd for the Ogbere-Awotunde projects
in Ibadan, Oyo State”, Nweke stated.
