The Minister of Works, Engineer David Umahi, has raised concerns about attempts by some contractors handling federal road projects to demarket both him and the Ministry of Works.
Umahi, who spoke at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, accused Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, a leading construction firm, of relying on past glory while failing to meet current standards.
Umahi alleged that Julius Berger lacked the necessary equipment for the projects they are handling and promised to provide evidence to back up his claims.
The minister’s comments came amid controversy surrounding the awarding of a contract for a section of the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road project.
Media reports had suggested that the contract was awarded to a lesser-known company, InfoQuest International.
Umahi refuted this, clarifying that the ministry had awarded the contract to Infiouest International Limite and not InfoQuest, as reported.
He accused certain individuals of registering a company with a similar name to mislead the public.
Umahi claimed that Julius Berger has been benefiting from long-standing reputations rather than performance.
“Julius Berger is living on the past glory. They don’t have the equipment, and I have empirical evidence to prove it.
Funny enough, I have document to show you that most of the equipment that Julius Berger is using on Abuja- Kano, they are hired equipment from this company that we gave the job.
“You are surprised. We have the documents to show you the agreement written, where Julius Berger signed, the company we gave the job signed. So, instead of looking for the head, we should better look for the chicken.
“And that’s what we have done without knowing what we have done. And this company has done a lot of job for FCT, for water resources, and there is an evidence that they have done reinforced concrete. And so, it is just a way of fighting the Minister of Works.”
According to Umahi, the ongoing Abuja-Kano road project, which Julius Berger claimed to have completed 65 per cent, is already failing, with patches visible on the roads.
He expressed disbelief over the company’s request for an additional ₦1.1tn to complete the remaining 35 per cent of the project, despite already being paid ₦391bn with no outstanding debt owed by the ministry.
Umahi questioned the legitimacy of this request, particularly as there were no plans for additional work.
“Why asking for ₦1.1tn for the remaining 35 per cent? There is no additional work, yet they want a price review. We understand engineering very well, and we won’t be misled,” Umahi declared.
Umahi further disclosed that the ministry had initially agreed with Julius Berger on a 14-month timeline to complete the project, but the company later claimed it would take three years.
He said, “And so, we will do everything to push. And let the public try to ask us, because we have been demarcated by these contractors we are fighting. They enlist a number of stakeholders to be destroying our names, to be fighting us.
“But the question is, should they not have value for money? Should we not do the right thing? If the wrong things were done in the past, if you want to assume that, and the president came, he wants to do the right thing, is it not good for the public to support the president?
‘And so when we are fighting and insisting on value for money, insisting on fair deal for our contractors, I think the public, the press, should support Ministry of Works. This is very important.
“So back to the Abuja-Kano road project, they just say that they have finished the project 65 per cent. That’s 750 kilometers. I don’t want to tangle with them on that.
“But if you have finished the project 65 per cent and what was satisfied and paid was N391bn with no debt to you, why are you asking for additional N1.1tn? You know, to finish the remaining 35%. That is what it means.
“You finished 65 per cent and then you are asking for N1.1tn as a review, not additional work, no additional work to this thing.
“We went to better schools than some of these people that are claiming that they are engineers. The Abuja- Kano, and I want anybody to look at it, is failing. This 65 per cent is failing.
“Go and look at it and you see that there are patches already on the projects. And so nobody should come to teach us engineering. We understand engineering very, very well.
“And so we refused to pay additional N1.1tn. And that’s where the problem started. And then we negotiated for 14 months”.