If there is a project the governments of Nigeria have demonstrated insincerity about, the short federal road that traverses Edda in Ebonyi State is number one. When the government of President Shehu Shagari left office through a coup, the same road was one of the issues in popular discourse. The road had been awarded as reported in the media to a contractor at a cost of N20m.
It was one of the botched deals of the FG, which the regime of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari held the transport ministry under Alhaji Umaru Dikko liable. But that was just one of the pitfalls about the same road. Before Shagari, there had been some other contracts to fix the 20km road that starts at Nguzu Edda and terminates at Oso Edda, passing through the Edda heartland. Edda is indeed one of the most plundered of the places in the South East region.
It has been a constant victim of political inconsistency, having belonged to five states since 1960. Nothing starts and ends about Edda in one state in the past 53 years.
The shortest way to capture its political fate is that it has been part of relocation and readjustment in every state creation that ever affected the South East of Nigeria. Sometimes, when some of the road contracts are awarded, before work could commence, a new state would be created, and in Nigeria where continuity is not part of governance, everything starts afresh or better still all the past are forgotten.
While the rest of the nation’s development suffer frequent truncation of processes in governance, Edda takes double share as governments and states creations keep wearing it thin leaving it without stability to fix this road the natives say is their major headache. Another dilemma Last December, the federal government remembered the road again. The Ministry of Works approved it for award and the job went to Uniglobe Construction Company, an indigenous firm that has not had great past records in high profile jobs. From very reliable facts, the road was listed in the ministry’s Ministerial Tenders Board meeting for the ‘Opening of Financial Bid Form on about September 6, 2012.
A list that appeared before the Federal Executive Council meeting for approval had 10 contractors bidding for the same job in what was tagged ‘Category B, Lot 11: Construction of Ohafia (Abia State) – Oso (Ebonyi State) road. All the bidding contractors in the list gave completion duration of between 28 and 12 months. One of the prominent bidders was CCECC, listed as number ‘5’ that applied to construct the road at a cost of N3.83b. But at last the job was awarded Uniglobe, the number 2 in the list at a sum of N2,415,922,550.00.
The company offered to complete the project in 18 months from the time the work approval is given. From our facts also, the company got mobilized with N344,094,000 after a final contract sum of N2,293,965.30 was approved by the Works Ministry at the last week of December last year. Uniglobe was expected to report to site and commence work immediately. The highest bidder for the job was Moreno-Marinas-Lagoon Plc that offered to construct it at a princely sum of N14,528,462,750 and complete the work in 28 months.
This was rejected just like CCECC’s N3.83b. Saturday Sun found that there was some lobbying where the ministry convinced President Goodluck Jonathan that such jobs below N5b should be given to local contractors to encourage them. Uniglobe is an indigenous firm owned by people from Edo State and well placed in the PDP, therefore it got the job. The file number of the contract is 6160. But as at the first week of March, Saturday Sun traversed the road from one end to the other and found no sign of the company or any form of work going on.
We have seen Uniglobe The people of Edda, from past experiences had laboured themselves weak arguing if actually the contract was awarded or not. Many had believed that it was just a gimmick they saw concerning the road and concluded that it was rather a road in a nearby Abia State town that was actually awarded but mistaken for the Edda road as contractor on the road had commenced work.
But during the visit, in addition to overwhelming facts in our possession, the natives accepted they have in the past month seen from time to time vehicles marked Uniglobe drive by.
An information officer in the area confirmed to Saturday Sun that he even discussed with a man who even gave him his complimentary card indicating that he is the Administrative and Logistics Manager of Uniglobe, and admitted that they have a job to construct the road. Further confirmation of the contract came from the Coordinator of the Edda East Development Area, Pharm. Ulu Orji-Uzor who told Saturday Sun that he once hosted a man, Engr. Anselm who told him he was the site manager of Uniglobe and was around to solicit his assistance to get a space of land the company would use as site workshop for the commencement of work. “After taking him round, he settled for a space near our council secretariat and we were all happy that work will soon commence to clear the place and get down to fixing the road.
But after some two weeks, I didn’t hear from him or see any sign of them. I called Engr. Anselm who told me they were waiting for mobilization to commence work. But they later came with some equipment, especially earth moving machines that were kept at the place I showed them.
Before I could come to the place to see what they brought, I was told again they had moved all of them away with an instruction to commence work at the Nguzu end that is in worse state. Until now you are asking me, I have neither seen nor heard from them again.” Saturday Sun visited the Nguzu end of the road and could not see any sign of Uniglobe. People who spoke to us said the company had moved their equipment to the Ohafia military formation for safety even though the place is way out of the contract location. We could however not reach anybody they spoke with, but a source said the officials met someone who gave them a space opposite the Nguzu Secondary School for site workshop. The issue of mobilization said to have been raised by Engr. Anselm as reason for not commencing work was confounding as we gathered that the company got mobilization in December.
Saturday Sun later called the site manager who did not pick but later called back after receiving a text message on the matter. Anselm begged to be quoted without fear of contradiction that no dime has been paid the company as mobilization. He said: “It is a lie for anyone to say we have got mobilized to commence work on the road. What we got is an approval to be mobilized with N344m, but till now we are speaking, the money has not been remitted into our account, and we have been constantly reminding the ministry to keep to the obligation. But to demonstrate our readiness to do the work, we have still gone to site.
After landing at Owutu Edda, we got directive from the ministry to commence at the Ohafia end. We are already there and have started constructing the elbow of the road because it needs overlay at this end, a stretch of about 8.3km. The Edda end from Nguzu is complete earth road that needs first construction. So before we can do any work here, we have to first get the design of the road to know exactly what to do.
It is not possible to do any work without the design being available. I want to correct an impression also that while the contract was awarded in December, we got a letter from the ministry to commence work on February 12, and reported on site just the following day. On getting there, we wrote the ministry that same day. I can read you the letter signed by me and written on February 13, and duly received by Engr. P. Obioha at the ministry a
sking for the design.
So, I think you can help us in two ways – to get the payment to mobilize and also to be furnished with the engineering design of the road because we have to do something before the rains set in.” Some confusion arose on why a contractor bided for a job without being availed the design to know what is expected of it. But another issue arose as someone in government who asked not to be named hinted that even the work that commenced at Ohafia was part of the Good Governance Tour drama of the government and might fizzle out after the tour as the project was not appropriated for in last year’s budget.
However, Saturday Sun can assert that in the 2013 Budget, the project got N1.5b allocation and while the remainder is expected to come in the 2014 budget. By the letter to commence work in February this year, the implication is that the 18 months duration of the contract will end in July next year if there is no obstruction to it in financing. History of jinx Uniglobe on this project should be the sixth or seventh in the past 40 years. And two respondents, Mazi Okoro Agwu and Chief Patrick Eze told Saturday Sun that this will not fail. “We have the faith that this time, Uniglobe will be the jinx breaker. We are persuaded that the company, though not with elaborate track of works of this magnitude would like to use the project to launch itself into prominence.
If they build this road, we are sure their profile must rise because the road at a point runs through a very peculiar landscape and will take expertise to handle. “Many years ago, the road was awarded the Cistar Construction Company when Chief Sam Mbakwe was the Imo State governor. It was awarded Votunisky, Hispacon and another before Mbakwe’s days. The last that handled the road was Bencov. We had a running battle with Bencov when they abandoned the project without doing anything.
The contract awarded in 1991 with reference number CN/3168 was under the supervision of Engr. N. Asuquo for the Federal Ministry of Works. By the time Bencov pulled out without coating a centimeter of the road, it had collected N48m out of the total sum of N75,351,182.
We complained to the President Olusegun Obasanjo panel on failed FG contracts in year 2000, through which the government ordered that the company refunded the government N10m. But the work was never revisited and we never heard any punishment meted to a contractor that abandoned its work after being paid by the government. “So we expect a different game this time.
We have the assurance that Uniglobe will lay to rest the endless mix up about this short road. On behalf of the Edda people, we express our gratitude to President Jonathan, the Ebonyi State government and all that must have made an input to make the contract a reality, including our senator, Chief Sunny Ogbuoji, our dear son at the National Assembly. We know the contractor can’t do any work without funding from government, so we ask Arch. Mike Onolememen, the Works Minister to please sustain the good intention and make sure everything the company needs is provided to complete the project.”
Courtesy: The Sun