Contractors defy Works Minister’s order to return to site

Contractors handling federal road projects have defied the order of the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi to return to work.

The contractors cited the depreciating value of the naira and continued delay in adequate funding of road projects as reasons for refusing to obey the order.

The contractors are also pleading with the federal government to allow for contract variation where cogent and verifiable reasons are adduced because of inflation, since the federal government is owing contractors heavily.

In November, last year, former Works Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that the federal government owed road contractors about N11.16 trillion.

These were some of the positions they put forward after a “return to site” order by the Works Minister, explaining that “sincere dialogue to resolve the issue of indebtedness would help avert disagreements that may dog the Tinubu administration’s plans to deliver good roads to Nigerians.”

They, however, lauded members of the House of Representatives for calling on Senator Umahi to suspend the proposed adoption of concrete for road construction, describing concrete roads as “not feasible in the light of Nigeria’s economic realities.”

Similarly, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike also ordered contractors handling the rehabilitation of roads in the capital city and other civil engineering services to return to the site, declaring that he would not condone variations to their contract sums, accusing contractors of colluding with officers of the FCT to use variations to jerk the value of their contracts.

Frowning at the position of the ministers, the contractors expressed discomfort, claiming they were being portrayed as unpatriotic elements.

According to the contractors, “It is unjust, unfair and legally wrong for the government to owe the road contractors for several years, and then turn around to accuse them of economic sabotage.  A situation where inflation continues to bite very hard, occasioned by the continued depreciating value of the Naira, particularly when the machinery and equipment used in road construction are very expensive and not within easy reach, inadequate funding of road projects would always create disruptions and dislocations.”

Sources close to the contractors are unanimous in lauding the achievements of Umahi and Wike as state governors, insisting that “their massive funding of road projects without delay stood them out as performing state administrators. Specifically, Governor Wike paid as much as 75 percent of the contract cost so that contractors would not return to ask for variations. But a situation where contractors are owed for years, while the cost of doing business doubles, triples and even quadruples is a direct beckon to variation.

“It is common knowledge how much diesel and petrol were sold in 2015, and the current prices. The same thing for sand, chippings, asphalt, and even the cost of moving goods in 2015 vis-a-vis now. Telling a man who secured a contract in 2015 that he must return to the site and complete the job at the 2015 price (when it is the fault of the government that he was not paid) is unfair.

“It is not possible for all contractors to be unpatriotic. No contractor won’t love for Nigerians to praise his company for delivering on good roads.

“Unfortunately, road construction companies do not manufacture the equipment they use for work. Even if they do, they need to fuel their equipment, pay their workers, and buy things like asphalt and cement. All these things require plenty of money and their prices keep changing,” one of the contractors said.