By Favour Nnabugwu

The Minister of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike has expressed  concern over the  delay in the take-off of infrastructure development in the nine new universities in the country.

Wike said this at a meeting with the vice chancellors, procurement officials, contractors, consultants of the nine new universities, National Universities Commission (NUC) and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

“The report that we are getting is not satisfactory at all, for one year, the nine new universities have been approved and money has been given out, and no single naira has been spent.

“So what I have decided to do, now that the contractors are here, I want to know what the problems are.

“Why is it that for the past one year now that this contract has been approved and award letters have been given out, reports reaching me says that in 80 to 90 per cent of the sites, there is nothing happening?

“Some contractors have complained that up till now, they have not received full details of the drawings; all sorts of stories.

“So I want to find out if it is from the universities, ministry, NUC, or that the consultants have refused to cooperate with the universities. That is why we have called for this meeting,” he said.

“We have been moving from one state to the other and this is just one year and the report we are getting is not satisfactory at all.

“And with my experience, what I found out is that sometimes they blame the ministries, sometimes the ministries blame the contractors. Sometimes they blame those who are the recipients that is, the universities and the day you will call the vice-chancellors, they will give you a different version, because the ministry’s representatives are not there and also with the consultants, just like that.”

He said that there was no reason why funds made available in the past one year cannot be utilised, adding that Nigerians were eager to see the completion of the nine new universities. He noted that the Federal Government was willing to ensure that the universities were not just open but have the necessary facilities.

Wike added that government is serious about providing the necessary infrastructure, which necessitated the call for the meeting.

“Nigerians will not know that Mr President has done his own part and no infrastructure has been provided. This is not correct because bureaucracy is killing everything that we are hoping to achieve, ‘’ he said.

“So I want to find out if it is from the universities or from the ministry or is it from the National Universities Commission (NUC) or that they have done everything and nobody is trying to pay them and so the contractors are not willing to do their job or the consultants have refused to cooperate with the university to make sure that this job is done, that is why we have called for this meeting”.

He said that experience has shown that people tend to blame the ministry, contractors or the recipients if the right information was not given.

He blamed the procurement officials for their lack of commitment to the project and their duties.

“I thought that the problem was from the contractors but I did not know that the delay was from the procurement officers.

“Every department must be up and doing, I do not want any situation or any loophole or an abandoned project, it is not going to be acceptable, ‘’he said

Wike called on the procurement officers to expedite action on the release of funds, drawings among others.

However, the Deputy Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr Akinbode Agbaoye, confirmed that the commission had released funds to the appropriate authorities for the construction of the nine new universities.

Funds to new varsities
Still not satisfied with the delay, Wike said; “There is no justification that for one year, funds have been made available, approval has been given and up till now, we are still talking about processes to start the job.

“Nigerians are eager, we have opened these new universities and the government is willing to make sure that we do not just open universities, there must be facilities that people will say ‘yes, they are serious.”