By Murtala Adewale, Kano
PR Nigeria has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes and Other related Commission (EFCC) and members of the Civil Society Organisation CSO, to investigate the abandoned project of N381 million Ado Bayero road in Dorayi Babba area of the Kano metropolis.
According to the agency, the feeder road awarded to Stonegate Engineering and Quarries Limited in 2018 was left abandoned, inflicting daily pain on users and residents of the area.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Kano, the Manager, of PR Nigeria Kano office, Adnan Mukhtar Tudunwada, explained that credible evidence indicated the release of funds for the multi-million naira project is still in bad shape.
Adnan disclosed that independent investigation conducted by the centre shows evidence of N49million payment voucher raised for the contractor as 15 percent take off fee even as the road still remained unturned.
He explained that the poor state of the road has compelled residents of the community to seek self-help, spending more than N14 million out of pocket to make the road passable.
While wondering when the contractor “would” mobilized to site on the one kilometer road, the PR Nigeria manager wanted the CSO’s to challenge Kano state government on the whereabout the public funds expended on the project.
“In an attempt to find out why the project has been abandoned for over 3 years, the contractor said to us that they were yet to receive any money from the state government despite having followed up and made an official request for advance payment, as such they had to demobilized from the site.
“Therefore, questions begging for answers that the Kano State government must provide are: Since the contractor claimed he didn’t receive any money and had to leave the site without commencing work, where is the N381 million allegedly released for the purpose in 2019.
“Also, what about the payments voucher of N49 million naira that was raised to be paid to the contractor as 15 per cent take off fee. When will work commence on the one-kilometer road, which was initially projected to be completed in three months but is still abandoned over three years now.”
Efforts to make inquiries on the allegations leveled against the concerned authority on the project were not successful as the state commissioner for works, Alh. Idris Wada, did not respond to text messages and calls put to his official telephone line.
Source: The Guardian Newspaper
