By Cecilia Ijuo
Abuja – The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned contractors handling rural projects under the ministry against shoddy project execution.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Abdulkadir Muazu, gave the warning at an interactive meeting with contractors handling 2019 projects in the Department of Rural Development in Abuja.
Muazu, who noted that agricultural projects awarded to contractors were often poorly executed, warned that such contractors risked not being paid.
According to him, the use of substandard materials, unqualified personnel, compromised specifications among other things, are responsible for the poor delivery by contractors.
“Contractors these days no longer pay strict adherence to quality, terms and conditions of contract, timely submission of documents and engagement of qualified and experienced personnel.
“It is in view of this development that the ministry decided to organise this interactive meeting to sensitise our esteemed contractors to the need to adhere strictly to the set standards,’’ he said.
The permanent secretary urged the contractors to discharge their duties with high sense of responsibility, to provide rural communities with the required infrastructure for improved livelihood.
He assured them of government’s readiness to listen to their challenges with a view to addressing them to ensure a win-win situation.
The Director, Department of Rural development, Mr Daniel Udo, said the meeting had become necessary following poor project execution by contractors in spite of the huge amount of money spent by the government on yearly basis.
Udo urged contractors to abide by the terms of agreement reached before the award of contract to avoid a situation where the people were not been given value for money.
He said, `if we all carry out our obligations with every sense of dedication and commitment, there will not be the case of poor delivery and project abandonment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the high point of the meeting was discussion on strict adherence to quality and standard of project delivery, corruption, project supervision and monitoring, community mobilisation and sensitisation.
(NAN)
