…Contractors must change their attitude towards Gov’t contracts, says Governor’s aide
A contracting firm has lifted the lid off the alleged scam that trails contract awards in Imo State which it said was designed by the state government to impoverish citizens of the state.
According to the firm, Isiaku Engineering Company Limited, the state government under Owelle Rochas Okorocha engages in several artifices designed to ensure that it reneges on its contractual agreements with development partners.
Speaking with newsmen in Owerri Tuesday, the Managing Director of the company, Chief Henry Ceejay Ezebuiro regretted that Okorocha was taking the glory of executing projects at the detriment of contractors.
Hear him: I applaud Okorocha for dreaming of making Imo better. But is Imo better? Do we have rule of law? Yes, he is working but at whose detriment?’
Chief Ezebuiro who is also the chairman of Friends of Rochas Organization (FORO) gave graphic details of how the Okorocha administration defrauded his two firms through contracts that ran into troubled waters.
He revealed that government gave Isiaku Engineering Company Limited the contract of constructing the Banquet Hall at Government House in Owerri.
According to him, his company had reached the roofing stage when all of a sudden the governor insisted on expanding the hall.
His firm, he stated, agreed to the expansion but on the ground that there would be a variation in price.
Chief Ezebuiro disclosed that the governor rebuffed all entreaties for the price variation and insisted on the firm completing the contract at the old price, adding that government also refused to release the contract papers or details.
He further disclosed that the same thing was re-enacted by government on the two hospital projects awarded to another of his company, A. J. Global Services Limited.
The government, he said, in the middle of the contracts added 15 more offices to the original contracts but refused to any variation in prices.
The FORO boss stated that his companies had committed millions of Naira into the projects without any payment made to them.
And to add salt to injury, government, he said, had since given the contracts to other companies.
He stated that the modus operandi of the administration is to award contracts without documentations so that in the event of default, the contracting firms would not have any evidence to seek redress.
Chief Ezebuiro said he also discovered that a private company, Optimum General Services with Registration No: R2175026 was being used by the Okorocha administration to sublet contracts to development partners.
Further findings, he said, revealed that the one Anyim Chinenye Robynson registered the company on August 18, 2011, two months after the inauguration of the governor.
According to him, the said Anyim Chinenye Robynson is same as Anyim Nyerere, the Group Managing Director of Rochas Group of Companies.
The company chief asserted that Okorocha must retrace his steps now, adding that if he does not, he would face disgrace in 2015 if he chooses to seek re-election.
He equally picked holes in the free education program of the administration especially at the tertiary level of education, stating that undergraduates should not be made to pay any fees if there is any free education at that level.
In addition, he questioned a situation whereby only the very few their traditional rulers approved were given cheques of N100,000 each leaving majority with no cheques.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo has defended government on the issue of contract variation.
According to him, contractors should endeavour to execute contracts according to specifications before seeking price variation.
He maintained that a project owner has the right to make adjustments to a contract while the contractor must cooperate for the good of the state.
While not speaking specifically about the contracts or contractor in question, Onwuemeodo condemned the attitude of some contractors towards government projects.
He enjoined contractors to desist from thinking that government has free money to throw about.
