The Minister of State, Ministry of Works, Mohammed Goronyo, has directed the Managing Director of the Federal Emergency and Roads Maintenance Agency, Chukwuemeka Agbasi, to provide a list of defaulting contractors, who have failed to deliver their road projects awarded to them.
The minister gave the directive during his familiarisation tour of the Southwest section of FERMA, where the State Coordinators made presentations on the progress, challenges, and expectations in the cause of the discharge of their duties.
A statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations at the works ministry, Mohammed Ahmed, disclosed the directive on Tuesday.
He also warned contractors who fail to deliver on their contract awards to desist from engaging in any further delays, emphasising that failure to meet the agreed-upon terms would result in serious consequences, including potential penalties, contract termination, and exclusion from future bidding opportunities.
He declared that the era of abandoning projects is over.
He said, “These contracts are awarded and paid through the taxpayers’ money who desire value for their money.
“The list of defaulting Contractors must be made available to the Headquarters not later than next week.”
The minister also proposed a strong Technical Committee that will go around the country to monitor FERMA projects to ascertain the quality of their projects.
He said the challenges are real, huge and enormous, adding that they are not insurmountable.
Goronyo commended the Federal Road Management Engineers from the Southwest states, assuring them that all issues raised will be looked into to make FERMA great and successful.
He was quick to add that though the challenges are real, huge and enormous, they are not insurmountable.
“The country must tighten up its belt and combat the challenges frontally. We have been drawing from a well without water for so long. We now have a President who is willing to face the challenges head-on without complaining.
“We must be ready to support one another and do things differently. We must all support President Bola Tinubu to deliver on his mandate,” he said.
Goronyo further pledged to pay unscheduled visits to contract sites to have first-hand knowledge of the commitment of contractors to projects while also assuring that Staff Welfare is a paramount issue of concern that will not be toyed with.
In a similar development, Goronyo commissioned a solar-powered streetlight project donated by FERMA for the residents of the community of Isale-Eko in Lagos State.
