National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
APGA in Niger tackles govt over Minna -Suleja road rehabilitation works
Olabode Adaramola
The Niger State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has berated the state government on its handling of rehabilitation of Minna-Suleja road, accusing the government of just wasting the tax payers’ money without tangible results.
The state government had recently awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the 98 kilometer Federal road at the cost of N500 million, however about three months into the project, the road had further deteriorated.
The state government then blamed the current state of the highway on overloading by trucks and articulated vehicles and threatened to enact a law to check their excess.
However the state chairman of APGA, Mallam Musa Aliyu Liman blamed shoddy jobs by contractors handling the project for its current state, while describing the state government’s handling of the contract on the ever-busy road as “wasteful.”
“Time has come when we will call this administration to order over its wasteful spending as if the resources they are dispersing belong to them,” Mallam Liman noted.
He said rather than accepting responsibility for its failure, the state government is blaming the deplorable state of the road on trucks and articulated vehicles drivers.
“If the rehabilitation was carried out well, there was no way it will have deteriorated just within such a short period,” he maintained.
Mallam Liman also berated the state government for the manner its has been handling contract award since it assumed power, accusing it of not following due process in the matter.
But the state government in a swift reaction has questioned the technical competence of the State Chairman of the party to judge the contractors.
The Deputy Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, Mr. Jide Orintunsin said due-diligence was followed in the award of all contracts by the administration.
He also said the state government was mindful of the economic downturn the country is currently facing and has been prudent in its spending.
