Contractors who fail to meet project specifications and quality in the ongoing UBEC/SUBEB jobs risk revocation of their contracts and possible blacklist, chairman of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Prof. Shehu Raheem Adaramaja has said.
Various renovation or rehabilitation works are ongoing across 600 schools in Kwara State.
Adaramaja, who was speaking in Gorobani Village, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State North Central Nigeria during the inspection of ongoing UBEC/SUBEB intervention projects for 2014-2019, said the Board would not hesitate to apply appropriate punitive measures against any contractors who fails to comply with specifications of the projects.
“To the contractors, the message is clear: get it done the way it should be done and get paid, failure to do that, we will reverse the contract. After the first and second warning, the third warning is to revoke the contract. The guideline is clear and we are not going to compromise,” he warned .
He warned that the government don’t want a situation where somebody will just write to the board requesting for payment declaring that the government wants to see the percentage of work done before payment is made because we don’t want to have abandoned projects, he cautioned .
The board Chairman also declared that the government will pay contractors based on actual job done because government don’t want people to run away with public money.
Speaking on his assessment of the projects inspected, he said some contractors performed excellently well, while others performed below expectations.
“So far so good, some of the contractors did well and what they have done is okay for us, but some are below the standard. Those that are below the standard, we have told them what to do. We rejected some projects outrightly and we have instructed the contractors to start again”, he said.
The SUBEB chief explained that the layers of supervision put in place in the ongoing projects, especially with the involvement of communities, was to ensure that the projects are executed according to specifications.
“This time around, there are layers of supervision we have put it in place. It is not just the UBEC and SUBEB teams that are supervising the projects, we now involve the LGEAs, the school-based management committee and the communities. The UBEC action plan on this ongoing projects is very clear. There are layers of monitoring mechanism mentioned in the Action Plan and that is what we are following,” he said.
“We involve school based management committee and we made them to realise that this infrastructure we are putting in place is for them and they must take responsibility and ensure that defective or substandard facilities are not provided. We have given them instruction in all the villages we visited that they must take responsibility.
“Honestly, if we are able to finish up the way we have started, it will be better for all in Kwara. Unlike in the previous years when contractors would just move to site without any supervision, now the communities, LGEAs, school based management committee as well as UBEC and SUBEB teams are all fully on ground for monitoring and supervision of projects.
“From this supervision, we have discovered a number of infractions which we have corrected. We got one in Ipee, Oyun LGA; another one in ECWA,OJA-IYA,Ilorin West LGA, we also caught another in Alla in Isin Local Government. Just recently,
we caught another one in Alanamu Central LGEA school, Ilorin West LGA. The ones in Alla and Ipee, I saw videos where they have now gone to deliver hard cores and polymers that were absent in the initial constructions. So, that is the type of thing we want to achieve.’’
Adaramaja warned that any contractor that is not willing to follow the standard will not enjoy this administration because the message of the Governor is that everyone must deliver quality works and deliver quality infrastructure, stressing that if there is any particular contractor who is not willing to follow standard, it is as good as that contractor is not even there at all.
The Chairman appreciated the Governor for giving the Board free hands to operate which he attributed to the successes recorded in the ongoing monitoring exercise.
“I want to appreciate Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, for giving us the enabling environment to operate because in the past, it wasn’t like this. If there is any complaint, people will run to the Governor.
Some of the projects inspected in Kaiama Local Government area included renovation of four classrooms at Tunga Aboki LGEA Primary School; remodelling of five classrooms at LGEA Central Primary School, Kaiama; renovation of four classrooms, construction of a block of two classrooms and construction of four compartment of VIP toilet at Kamaji II, LGEA Primary School; and remodelling of four classrooms with two offices at LGEA Primary School Bezira.
Others were renovation of four classrooms at Kugiji LGEA Primary School; renovation of two classrooms at KLGEA Primary School Shiri Gweria; construction of a block of three classrooms at KLGEA Kanikoko Primary School; construction of a block of three classrooms and four compartment of VIP toilet at Darulsalam Nomadic LGEA School; among others.
The monitoring team also inspected various ongoing UBEC/SUBEB projects in Baruten Local Government Area of the state.
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