Emmanuel Aziken
27 June 2008
Lagos — The Senate Committee on Aviation investigating the expenditure of the N19.5 billion aviation intervention fund yesterday vowed to revoke the N858 million Lagos Airport Apron Extension contract upon musings of inflation and incompetence.
The threat followed the contractor's demand for more money despite claims that the contractor overpriced the project by N275 million and had accomplished only 20% of the job despite collecting 60% of the contract sum.
Mr. Olabode Oladeji, Managing Director of Messers Fiat Nigeria Limited, the project contractor in his testimony before the Committee disclosed that there was no specification for the job. The contract was awarded on March 27, 2007 at a total contract sum of N825 million with a completion date of August 30, 2007. The Managing Director of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Richard Aisibegbu, joined the consultant to the Committee, Captain Daniel Omale in disputing the capacity of the contractor to handle the project.
While the contractor said that he had done 40% of the contract, the FAAN Managing Director said that only 30% of the contract was done while the Committee consultant put the completion rate at 25%.
"You have portrayed yourself as incompetent and we would now be looking at that aspect in our recommendation," Senator Anyim Ude, chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, said yesterday. Some other Committee members including Senators Grace Bent and Gbemi Saraki-Fowora, both of whom claimed that the company should not have won the contract. "There is no doubt that FAAN has performed its own part of the contract by giving the company 50 per cent mobilisation and yet the job was still at 30 per cent completion stage," Senator Bent said.
Mr. Aisibiegbu said that FAAN made a down payment of N426.3 million representing 50% to the company. Noting the poor state of work by the contractor, he said that he was not prepared to make any more payments to the contractor. "The contractor has not shown any faith in the work. I am not ready to sign any more payments for him,' citing among others, what he said was "the rate of sack of his staff in the field is outrageous especially the engineers working with him,"
Besides, he affirmed that due process was not followed in awarding the contract to the contractor.
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The Nigeria Senate has become a probing senate who has nothing to do more than probe the past government and contractors who got contract from the government. This is not bad as it only instigate fear in the mind of the so called contractors. What is the important of a probe without a prosecution? The so called contractors are watching what is going to happen to their friends who are been probe, and if there is no action after the probe, they are free to continue with what they are doing. I want to say here that the same… [Read Full Text]
As usual, most of these Nigerian probes on contracts DELIBRATELY avoid reference to the contracts which SHOULD be binding on the contractors as well as the government indicating that contracts are being circumvented to cover up VERY IMPORTANT FACTS about the contract. By doing this, the probing committee can tell the world any garbage and take any contractually illegal decisions. This project was supposed to be completed, according to the contract in August 2007. WHAT ARE THE CIRCUSTANCES THAT CAUSED THE DELAY IN COMPLETION? With all the brains available in the country, why do we show… [Read Full Text]