•Okorocha threatens to revoke contract
•Gov collected N24m, contractor alleges
Imo
State Governor, Rochas Okorocha and the Managing Director of Nnutouch Global
Ventures, Dr. Osita Okereke, are currently on warpath over Governor Okorocha’s
resolve to terminate the N1.3 billion project awarded to the firm. This is even
as the contractor has alleged that the governor collected the sum of N24
million as gratification from the 15 percent payment made to his company.
The
state government had awarded to Nnutouch Global Ventures the contract for the
construction of an ultra-modern Judicial Commission Headquarters building in
April 2012. However, a year after the contract was awarded to the firm, the
governor who visited the building site recently was disappointed to
discover that the building, which was billed to be delivered in April 2013 was
still at its foundation level even after the firm was mobilised for the job.
Okorocha,
thereafter, threatened to revoke the said contract and re-award it to some
other contractors who were ready to deliver the project on time. But the
Managing Director of the construction firm, Osita Okereke, while briefing
journalists yesterday in Owerri, the Imo State capital, dared Okorocha to
revoke the contract.
He
blamed the state government for the delay in the execution of the project,
stating that the government had agreed to pay 40 percent upfront as contained
in the contractual terms signed between his company and the Ministry of
Justice.
“As
stipulated in the contract agreement, the state government was supposed to pay
40 percent upfront but the governor did not comply with that but instead, he
paid 15 percent totaling about N168 million,” he said.
Okereke
further alleged that the governor collected N24 million from 15 percent as
gratification, thereby leaving little fund for the execution of the project.
According to him, “after payment, the company surveyed and cleared the site and
the project is still at its foundation level since August 2012 because no dime
has been paid by the state government even after we have given 40 percent APG
to the government.
“After
all this, it will be callous and inhuman for the governor to visit the site and
threaten to revoke the contract even when he’s aware that the state government
has not paid the company what is due to them,” he noted.
Okereke
also lamented that “this is not the first time Governor Okorocha is playing
such pranks on my company. At the moment, the state government owes my company
the sum of N742 million as balance for some other projects we are handling for
the government such as the new governor’s lodge, street solar electrification
of Owerri-Orlu, architectural design and surveying of Imo-European University.”
When contacted, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media,
Mr. Ebere Uzoukwa, described the allegation as laughable. He said, “I won’t want
to join issues with a man whose character is well known to the people. The
governor has never collected a dime from any contractor and will never do. He
has legitimate means of making money.
His businesses are still running. So if Okereke has any contract with the state
government, he should execute it and stop beating about the bush or else we
will expose him.”
Source: Thisday
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