Before Ebonyi Comes To Standstill

Like every other country, Nigeria has a duty to encourage her indigenous contractors seeking support within the economy and helping the country to arrest massive unemployment of youths. There cannot be a way around this. I personally share this view. And if you stretch that to Ebonyi I will still maintain that position. But somehow, I am split half and half. How do I mean?

While my head tells me that it is good that indigenous contractors are encouraged, I follow my heart. I follow my heart because people are more interested in having quality projects delivered on time than awarding projects that will make caricature of our national aspiration. When this column published ‘Ebonyi Contractors’, it contended that evil lasts as long as those who should speak decide to keep quiet. The piece expressed sadness over government’s sacred silence while those contracted to use tax payers’ monies to build up the state are pocketing public naira in private accounts. The column opined that government’s mute is not just self-indicting but self-defeating. The silence and inability of the government to hold their contractors to account in the view of the piece signifies a visible lack of political will and a clear case of a rotten tooth chewing with caution.

Expectedly, after that article, reactions did not just rain, they poured. Among numerous calls and reactions that thrilled the piece, The Dragnet got a call from one of the ogas at the top. The guest caller appreciated the issue raised in the article. He admitted that contractors whether local or foreign are really frustrating the effort of government for better living in Ebonyi state. He explained that people’s disappointments are also government’s concern. He however revealed that it is not easy to terminate contracts because of legal logistics and time it will take to re-award the contracts.

Rather than win my sympathy, the explanation got my nerves frayed. What pained me more was a classified revelation I tapped recently that all the contractors handling projects like international market have been paid. There are ambiguities regarding the type of payment these contractors have received. Is it that the levels of projects they have executed are not commensurate with the monies they have received? Could it be that the amount contained in the terms of contract has fully gone into the hands of these desperadoes with little or nothing to show for it? Either way, none of the above is heart cheering, rather it calls for communal mourning.

The fear is that if nothing changes urgently, Ebonyians might have hoped in vain for the last six years. All it takes for an economy to run to standstill is for state to subsidize consumption rather than production. Greece is a living symbol. If a state like Ebonyi gets a bond from World Bank and doesn’t utilize it to build production base economy due to the disservices of contractors, the state will still live to service the loan with meager federal allocation to the state. But if projects like water reticulation, international markets, cement development are completed, the source of revenue is diversified and it can in addition to repaying the loan respond to other needs of the citizens.

All hope is not lost yet. Recently, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly scored a legislative point. From the myopia of narrowing legislative functions to passing appropriation bill and suspending colleagues who ride motor cycles and wear under-wears in public, the house demonstrated its oversight responsibility. As part of the reports and recommendation of its Committee on Works and transport on the inspection of 32 roads projects embarked upon by the state government, the house has blacklisted two construction firms- J. Quarison and Hapel Nig Ltd. The house also asked the two firms to refund over N3bn they had taken for their contracts to the government’s treasury.

Of the total amount, Chief Okey Nwankwo, the managing director of J. Quarison is to return one billion four hundred and seventy million naira (N1.470bn) being the amount he diverted for road projects in Ebonyi State to Enugu State while Hapel is to return two hundred and seven million naira (N2.270bn) after he delivered a shoddy work on Onueke-Onuebonyi-Echara and Nwezenyi road projects. In addition, Chief Okey Nwankwo is to face the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) if the recommendation of the state government to hand him over to the anti-graft agency makes any meaning to the government already frustrated by the attitudes of its contractors.

Fuming like a wounded lion, the house warned contractors to always conform to specifications advising those handling road projects to always use stone base to reinforce the road. It reiterated that it will no longer be business as usual for people who think that they can frustrate government dream and leave it vulnerable to attack.

To a large extent I commend the bold step of the house as right step in the right direction. However, there are some reservations. The wakeup call has been belated; it is a matter of greeting good morning at dusk. Secondly, blacklisting only two out of myriad of underperforming contractors in the state is no good news; it is a reminder of enormous need to demonstrate more oversight and will power. Blacklisting two firms where many if not all firms handling projects in the state behave the same way is like a parrot praising itself for uttering few words clearly.

To be sure, Onueke-Onuebonyi-Echara and Nwezenyi road project is not the most strategic project of the present administration nor is it the only poorly executed road project in the state. One only needs to ply Onuebonyi-Ishieke dual carriage ways and Agbaja-Nwofe road to learn that there are many J. Quarisons and Hapels yet to receive legislative oversight hammer. Besides, there are other projects initiated by the present administration which would have impacted significantly on the lives of the people were they to have been completed.

People expect the Ebonyi House of Assembly to call spade a spade. J. Quarison and Hapel are just two out of many. If not for anything, the delay and the substandard jobs being done by some of these companies are self evident to attract the eagle eyes of a legislative house committed to its oversight function.

Government besides watching helpless needs to do something. The EFCC are there to protect law abiding citizens against those who under guise aim to sell people’s destiny. It is not enough to reason on the strength of legal difficulties and conclude that government are helpless because of logistics involved in the contract award.

Time is not only just running out but running fast against this administration. People still wait patiently to see the administration connect its dots before Ebonyi bounces back to a standstill.