By Gabriel Enogholase
BENIN—EDO State Governor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, has faulted the quality of jobs executed by the Federal Roads Management Agency, FERMA, in the state.

Oshiomhole spoke, following comments by the Chairman, Presidential Projects Assessment Committee, Mr Ibrahim Bunu, that most of the projects executed by the agency, assessed so far, were below the specifications.

Oshiomhole, who spoke when he granted audience to the committee members in Benin, Edo State, said that the Queen Ede erosion problem was due to the negligence and poor design of Federal Government contractors.

According to him “I believe the creation of FERMA is a very good initiative. I believe that we must not only build roads, but also maintain them. I believe  FERMA is not firm because it does not have any respect for quality control and they don’t have any concern for safety.

They pour granite, cement and sand on the road and abandon it, thereby leading to accidents.”

While commending President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up the Project Assessment Committee, he said “I have since learnt to separate the formality of due process from the reality in trying to ensure that public fund is spent judiciously and that Nigerians gets value for the money.”

“The first time I learnt of your appointment was from your report on the controversial Abuja Airport runway, which by any standard was  clearly scandalous, and your committee went into it and the Federal Government revoked the ptoject.”

“My only complaint is that when we set up a committee like yours, and they stumble into something that is obviously offensive to public interest, it is not enough to just cancel it. You must bring to justice those who were responsible for that abuse.”

Oshiomhole stressed the need for adequate sanctions on those who fail to carry our their jobs well, to serve as a deterrent to others, pointing out  “if all we do when we catch a thief is to recover the stolen goods and let them loose on the society,  it will  encourage them to go and improve on their methods.” He added that there was the need for government cases to be pursued to their logical conclusion.

Adding that unless laws are applied fully, Nigeria may still be moving in darkness of corruption.

Attributing some of the ecological problems in Edo State to the negligence of the federal contractors, he said, “We had some problems in Edo State as a result of the negligence of some contractors. For example, we have serious problem at Queen Ede and Auchi, arising from designing error and execution by the contractors”.

On his part, the Chairman of the Presidential Project Assessment Committee lamented the non-compliance of contractors with specifications.