Group Petitions EFCC, Demands Prosecution of Defaulting Contractors in Niger Delta Projects

A coalition of over 150 anticorruption organisations, Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to commence prosecution of some defaulting contractors on some projects in the Niger Delta region.

CSNAC in a petition signed by its Chairman, Mr. Olanrewaju Suraju, said it was furnishing the commission with a list of some of the projects after its on-the-spot-assessment of the projects.

The petition read: “You will recall that during the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo’s visit to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on February 10, 2017 following a peace mission to Niger Delta, he gave assurances of the federal government’s commitment to the rapid development of oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.

“In addition to the above, the acting president stated at a town hall meeting in furtherance of his fact-finding mission in Benin City, Edo State that defaulting contractors who were meant to handle the failed and abandoned projects in the Niger Delta region will face prosecution, as a reiteration of the federal government’s commitment to a new way of doing things, especially in the oil producing communities and other parts of the country.

“It is in line with the above that we hereby furnish your commission with our on- the- spot assessment report and demand your independent investigation and the prosecution of all contractors who had been duly mobilised by the federal government in respect of some relevant education, health, electrification and road works project in different communities in the Niger Delta.”

The projects defaulted on is found in education, health, electrification and road works in different communities in the Niger Delta.

Among the projects are: “Federal Science Technical College Ahoada; Renovation of Kugbo Primary School, Rivers State; Omuma Oroyo Health Centre, Cross Rivers; Ediba-Itigidi Bridge, Cross Rivers, among others.

CSNAC noted further that the call for the prosecution of the said contractors is in line with the federal government’s professed zero tolerance for corrupt practices of neglect, abandon or outright refusal to carry out projects for which mobilisation were received.

It said the prosecution of the contractors would send a strong message to all contractors handling government projects on the need to ensure that projects are carried out diligently and with the required commitment.

The coalition said the projects have been abandoned within the current status range of five per cent to 60 per cent completion rate while there are also some isolated cases of non- existent projects.

“We hereby demand that contractors found to be in default be made scapegoats in other to sanitize the system and rid same of greedy individuals who sabotage federal government’s efforts at boosting the infrastructural development of the country, thus depriving citizens of the dividends of democracy,” CSNAC said.