Members of the Senate Committee probing expenditure on Federal Highways were on Friday stunned when Suleiman Danladi, the director in charge of Federal highways, revealed that a contractor disappeared after he was paid N600 million as mobilisation for a road project.
The director in charge of Construction and Rehabilitation disclosed that the contractor, Messrs SINOCON, abandoned the Gombe-Biu Road project after they were paid. But the company’s Managing Director, Austin Owudu Ochei, quickly countered that it got only N316 million and that it had done over 50 per cent of the job.
Danladi, however, insisted that he was correct with his facts.
The bone of contention is the Gombe-Biu Road, which was supposed to link Gombe and Borno states but which has been abandoned because of SINOCON allegedly disrespected the contract agreement it signed with the ministry.
Danladi said that work on the road project had since been abandoned following disagreement between the ministry and the company. He told the committee “the percentage of work done is not proportionate to the amount of money paid out to the company.”
While Danladi maintained that only 20 per cent of the work had been done, Ochei replied that 52 per cent of the contract had been completed.
An exasperated committee chairman, Heineken Lokpobiri threatened to recommend jail terms for contractors who collect advance payment for such contracts but fail to mobilise to site.
Said Lokpobiri: “Some of you (contractors)will go to jail at the end of our investigation because we are not here to play. We will go on inspection. At the end of the day, we will write our report and some of you will go to jail.”
The committee also heard of an agreement, which existed between the Transportation Ministry and contractors to the effect that if the ministry delays payment for work done, it (the ministry)would pay some money to the contractors as interest.
The committee was told that a particular situation existed in which a total amount of N900 million was to be paid to a contractor as interest on delay even as the original contract sum was N700 million.
Meanwhile, the recent revelations from the Senate committee may force the Presidency to embark on a comprehensive probe of all the Federal ministries and agencies to ascertain the level of their compliance with its directive on unspent budgetary funds.
The nation was last week awash with reports that Transport Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, withdrew N30.9 billion between December 26 and 31, last year, in defiance of a presidential directive on unspent budget funds. It was later revealed that the disbursement was with the approval of the Accountant General of the Federation.
A source close to the Presidency noted that apart from its decision to verify the allegation against Alison-Madueke, President Umaru Yar’Adua is also toying with the idea of ordering a comprehensive audit of all the ministries and agencies to discover those that defied his order on unspent budget.
Yar’Adua and some of his kitchen cabinet members were said to have been shocked by the committee’s discovery of the withdrawals when the President had directed that unspent budget be returned to the treasury.
A source said: “The Presidency was shocked by the disclosures at the panel because they were embarrassing to the government.
“The government was disturbed that such withdrawals were allegedly made during public holidays. The minister had tried to explain the situation to the government but the President will give her the benefit of the doubt by having a second opinion on the matter.
“I can tell you that there may be an inter-ministerial review of the matter through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation before security agencies are invited.
“The Presidency was shocked that the revelations came up in the presence of the minister who could not offer instant denial. Don’t forget that the alleged withdrawals and payments border on the defiance of a presidential directive. If the diversion of N300 million unspent funds at the Federal Ministry of Health could be probed, why not the N30 billion?”
The source added that the Presidency is thinking of asking the head of service to send a memo to the ministries intimating them of the plan.
He added that the modalities for carrying out the exercise would be worked out.