Ekiti SUBEB assures fairness, transparency in contract awards
The Chairman, the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof. Femi Akinwumi, says the ongoing process of awarding contracts for the UBEC/SUBEB 2019 projects will be transparent and on merit.
Akinwumi gave the assurance in a statement to journalists on Friday in Ado Ekiti.
He said that the process of awarding contracts for the UBEC/SUBEB 2019 projects had commenced and would soon be concluded.
Akinwumi said that in preparation for a free, fair and hitch-free process, officials of SUBEB held series of consultations with stakeholders.
The stakeholders included a tripartite interactive forum with top officials of Ekiti State Bureau of Special Projects.
He said that the state UBEC Coordinator was also consulted on ways of strengthening its project implementation and monitoring strategies as well as ensuring a smooth contract award process.
Akinwumi said that resolutions arrived at included fine-tuning the letters of award to be issued to contractors in order to remove ambiguities and omissions noticed in the award letters of previous years.
According to him, the proposed contract award letter will contain technical specifications, including details and measurements of depths, wall finish and floor finish.
Others are specified ceiling and roofing materials to be used in projects in letters of award of renovation and construction contracts.
The SUBEB boss said other resolutions reached at the forum included the provision of the bill of quantities of the project to each successful bidder.
He said that it was resolved during the forum that roofing materials to be used in building construction and renovation must be procured from only duly accredited vendors.
Akinwumi said that the technical officers that would monitor the projects at both the state and local government level would be regularly trained and properly monitored.
He said that even though the ongoing and recently concluded UBEC/SUBEB projects in the state were of very high standard, the board would continue working toward ensuring that no substandard project scales the hurdles to be put in place.
Akinwumi emphasised that any contractor that attempted to do a shoddy job would be identified early, weeded out of the process and blacklisted.
Gov. Kayode Fayemi paid over N7.3 billion counterpart funds to UBEC in the last two years.
Akinwunmi said that it was, therefore, the duty of all stakeholders in the basic education sector to ensure that the state got value for the huge investment the governor was making in the sector.
