The Ekiti State Government has warned that any contractor who attempts abandoning project sites after collecting mobilisation fees or other fees in the handling of works under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the state will be tracked and made to cough out all monies collected, no matter how long it takes.
Secretary of the SDG’s in the state, Mr Olukayode Adunmo, gave the warning at the weekend after a two-day inspection tour of projects so far executed and completed under the 2018 intervention programme in four selected local government areas in the state.
About 60 projects, domiciled mostly in schools and hospitals, included supply of equipment, outright construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of dilapidated classrooms and ward structures, toilets, boreholes, staff quarters, landscaping and interlocking, among others.
The projects are cited in four of the 16 Local Government areas of the state, namely Ekiti South West, Ijero, Moba and and Oye respectively.
Adunmo, who, in company with the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on SDGs, Mrs Abimbola Solanke, led a team from the Presidency on the inspection visit, said the SDGs office in the state once had a case of job abandonment by a contractor who was later picked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and made to refund money paid to him.
This, he said, was in consideration of the known fact that the present administration in the state under Gov. Kayode Fayemi do not take kindly to culture of projects abandonment or sharp practices in any form by individuals or group.
” We always try our possible best, in line of duty, to ensure no contractor is left unmonitored and where you defaulted, we will make sure your further payment is delayed while you are warned to return to site and do the needful or risk further actions that may not be palatable.
” When we suspect foul play on our jobs, we give you a long rope of not longer than six months to amend your ways, after which the contract is terminated, and you are made to refund our money.
” There is no hiding place for defaulters, no matter where they may be hiding. That is why no contractor is fully paid up until a satisfactory work is delivered.
”I must however confess that 99 percent of our present crop of contractors satisfactorily delivered on the jobs awarded them’
“The truth about our part of the world is that no contractor wants to perform to target time and specification, unless you put up strong monitoring mechanism, and it is on the basis of this that I want to commend our team of top officials for making this possible through their close monitoring and uncompromised supervision,” he said.
According to Adunmo, all the 56 completed projects are to be officially handed over to the benefiting LGs and communities, within the next couple of weeks.
In her comments, the Special Assistant to the Governor on SDGs, Mrs Abimbola Solanke, assured other local governments that the projects would soon be extended to them, saying eight of the councils had earlier benefited when the programme was still running under the name ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs), thereby leaving behind only four.
The team from the Presidency, comprising Mr Liadi Lukman, a representative of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, and Mr Joseph Abiolu, a Federal Government appointed Consultant who gave Ekiti a pass mark of over 93%, expressed satisfaction at the quality of projects inspected while commended the Ekiti SDGs for completing the projects in line with specifications.
The team later presented its assessment reports to Mr Biodun Omoleye, the Chief of Staff to Gov. Kayode Fayemi and commended the government on SDGs project delivery.