TheCable

Ibim Semenitari, acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), has ordered the termination of a 12-year hostel contract in the Ambrose Ali University in Ekpoma, Edo state.

According to Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, the commission’s head of corporate affairs, Semenitari gave the directive on Wednesday, after inspecting the 522-bed space prototype hostel at the Ekpoma campus of the university.

Amu-Nnadi quoted Semenitari as saying that the contract which was awarded to Unibright ENGRG Limited since 2004, had barely reached 25 per cent completion, and would be re-assigned to a more competent contractor.

“Contractors like this should not be allowed to go scot free. This is unfathomable. By next week I want to sign the termination letter for this contract so that it can be re-assigned to a contractor who is ready to work to get the job back on track,” Semenitari was quoted as saying.

Semenitari apologised to the university community for the poor performance of the contractor whom she said had gone contrary to the standards of the NDDC.

She acknowledged the efforts of the university authorities in raising concerns about the appalling attitude of the contractor through letters to the commission.

“These are problems that come up when you are dealing with a lot of things at the same time. The commission has a lot on its plate with 8,000 plus jobs,” she said.

“It’s always not too easy to be on top of all of it. We apologise where standards are below par but the whole idea of what we are doing is to come back to speed and come back to standards.”

Some of the projects which the NDDC team inspected in Edo were the model comprehensive health centre at Obozogbe-Niro in Orhionmwon local government area; the 23-kilometre Obozogbe-Abudu Road; the Market Street to Wire Road in Ubiaja, Esan South-East LGA; the 31-kilometre Ekpoma-Uhiele-Ujiogba Road in Esan West LGA and the Major General Esekhiagbe Road in Irrua, Esan Central LGA.

Equally inspected was the 32-kilometre Udo-Ofunama Road in Ovia South-West LGA, which Semenitari described as “a historic regional road”.

Speaking after the inspections, Semenitari said the commission had arranged meetings with some of the contractors that had shown some prospects in delivering on their projects.

“We have asked them to come and meet with us at the head office in Port Harcourt, where we will have serious discussions and hope that they will thereafter do the right things,” she said.

“Where they don’t, we will take other measures to ensure that we compel them to keep to our standards. For those like the contractor for the Ambrose Ali University, we have no option than to terminate and re-award the contract.”