Nasarawa State House of Assembly ad-hoc Committee investigating the N1billion abandoned secondary schools projects awarded by the state government in 2018 has given the various contractors two weeks to complete their works.
The committee said its directives to the contractors was to create an enabling environment for teaching and learning as well as to ensure justice in the utilisation of the state government resources.
Mr Daniel Ogazi, Chairman of the Committee gave the directive when the management of the Ministry of Education and the contractors appeared before the committee on Wednesday in Lafia.
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He said that the meeting was aimed at getting information from the contractors regarding the ongoing investigation of the abandoned schools’ projects.
” In the course of our oversight functions, we discovered a lot of abnormalities in the execution of the renovations of secondary schools across the state.
” This meeting is not to witch hunt any contractor but to get relevant information from you which will help this committee in our investigation.
” Some of you have completed your works, some of the works are ongoing and some contractors did not even start their work.
” It is in view of this that we are giving all contractors two weeks to complete their work in the interest of our children as we cannot allow our children to learn under the trees, ” he said.
He noted that the works need to be completed while the House liaises with the government to ensure that they were dully paid.
Ogazi expressed disappointment that the ministry of education paid some contractors 100 per cent without project evaluation and others 30 per cent and 70 per cent respectively.
The chairman said that the committee would continue to intensify efforts in ensuring that the right things were done in the interest of the education sector and for the overall development of the state.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the contractors who spoke during the sitting complained of non-release of money to them by the ministry of education hence their inability to complete work.
NAN also recalled that on March 17, the House had set up an ad hoc committee to investigate N1bn secondary schools renovation contracts awarded in 2018 by the state ministry of education.
NAN further recalled that on March 16, the House had summoned a former Commissioner of Education and now, the Secretary to the Government of Nasarawa State (SSG), Alhaji Aliyu Tijani and Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hajiya Fati Sabo over abandoned schools projects awarded in 2018.
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