By By Emma Amaize & Perez Brisibe

UDOPHIRI- UDOPHIRI  and Agbarha-Otor communities in Patani and Ughelli North Local Government Areas, Delta State, have blown the whistle on alleged sub-standard road projects, which construction firms are executing in their communities with the collusion of government supervisory officials. The people of Udophiri drew the attention of the state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, to the second-rate 4.85 kilometre road provided  to the community by a construction firm, when he visited the area recently, urging him not allow his officials to pull the wool over his eyes.

Agbarha–Otor took the issue of the purported poor quality job of the construction  firm handling the Ughelli-Agbarha-Otor road to the member representing Ughelli North Constituency II, in the House of Assembly,  Hon. Eric Obasi, who promptly ordered the contractor to suspend work.

The Udophiri spectacle unfolded when the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Mr. Donald Umukoro, while briefing the governor, who was on an inspection tour of Udophiri road on the challenges faced by the construction firm, explained, among other things, that the community disturbed the contractor,  hence  the inferior work dotting sections of the road.

Okowa

According to him, he (permanent secretary) had directed that the contractor to excavate and debase the failed portion, but the community prevented the contractor from proceeding with the work following complaints that the heavy construction machinery used for the project were causing the collapse of  their houses. He said this posed a serious challenge for the contractor.

Community leader tackles permanent secretary

Vice chairman of Udophiri community, Mr. Jude Mamowho, who listened to the conversation, rebuffed the permanent secretary in the presence of the governor, accusing him of camouflaging the facts. He appealed to the governor to visit other sections of the road to see the shabby work carried out by the contractor. To confirm things for himself, the governor, was scheduled to inspect the Bomadi end of the road, but adjust his schedule to visit the said portion of the road, where he lamented the slapdash work by the contractor.

Gov berates engineer, contractor

“The engineer that supervised the job is not supposed to be an employee of the state government; we cannot afford to have failed projects within one year of execution. I am happy that the person who was supervising the project from the Ministry of Works has been queried, but I want that to be escalated to the level of the civil service and the Head of Service.

“That engineer is not fit to be working for the Ministry of Works and I want to use this opportunity to assure the people of the affected communities that they have every right to question the state of the project,” he stated.

Continuing he said: “You (the contractor handling the project) have embarrassed me with this type of shoddy job; we cannot push you to go beyond your pace. The first thing we want is quality job as my name matters a lot, we do not have to manage anything, the name of your company is at stake too, the financial situation is tough, so, we cannot afford to do one road twice.”

He added: “A bad job is a bad job. If you had any reason to stop, you would have stopped instead of giving us a bad job. Okowa continued: “By the quality of this job you are not only cheating the Delta State government, but you are also damaging my image as my name matters a lot to me. If for any reason you had a problem at doing a good job, meet with the Ministry of works and get it sorted out.”

Communities can query bad work

“The communities should also be assured that everything would be done according to specification,” the governor added. He assured the people of the affected communities that they have every right to question the state of the project, adding that  the state government would not compromise on quality projects. Okowa pointed out that government would not spend its meager resources on projects that will not stand the test of time and enjoined communities to get involved in the supervision of projects in their areas, but shun taking laws into their hands by laying their complaints with the  appropriate quarters.

Community complained severally before gov visit – Hon Tonye

Member representing the area in the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Timi Tonye, told Niger Delta Voice that the community had previously written series of petitions to the state government and the ministry of works, lamenting the quality of the road. His words: “Also, before that day (day Okowa inspected project), there were petitions written by the community on the state of the road to the ministry of works indicating their dissatisfaction  with the quality of work on the road and the ministry decided that they were going to look at it and take a decision.”

He explained: “The project has been going on for close to four years now and was started by the Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan administration with a component of it proposed to be done by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. “The current state government made a commitment to the road when we went to present the need assessment to Governor Okowa.” Tonye added: “During the inspection, about 2-km of the road was satisfactory to everybody while the other side failed because the contractor seems to be in a hurry to secure commissioning, but the governor has directed them to do the project and actually berated the contractor.”

Mukoro didn’t cover up for contractor 

He, however, explained that the permanent secretary was not covering up for the contractor, but told the governor  the basic truth about the project following which the governor in his characteristic manner decided to see things for himself. “I was there, he told him  (governor) that some sections were good and failures toward the end of the road, but that there were community disturbances as the road was nearing completion.  He did not cover up for the contractor,” the lawmaker said.

Why I stopped construction firm

After listening to the complaints of his people that the company was trying to pour asphalt on the road without stone basing it, Hon Oharisi ordered a stoppage and requested the company to make available the Bill of Quotation to know the specification of the road contract. Oharisi asserted: “The road project we are talking about leads to Agbarha-Otor, Ibru’s community and when the people l represent complain, l must listen to them because the road belongs to them and not Oharisi.”

He said that he simply requested the construction firm and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC,  is to provide the Bill of Quotation, nothing else, adding it was unfair for any construction firm to tarnish the good works of the governor. He also said Senator Okowa has done creditably in the area of road projects across the state, saying that it will be unfair for any construction firm to destroy the good work the government has started. While appealing to the construction firm to follow specification, Oharisi said the essence of stopping the company is to ensure it gives the community a durable road that will stand the test of time.

Different tale on Jeddo.Ughoton Road

The situation, however, was different at the commissioning of Jeddo/Ughoton Road, Okpe Local Government Area, which contract Governor Okowa awarded following a telephone call from the Orodje of Okpe, HRM Orhue I. Inaugurating the road, Okowa said the Orodje of Okpe, HRM Orhue I, drew his attention to the deplorable state of the road and commended the contractor for the speedy delivery of the road.

Orodje of Okpe, Orhue I in a brief speech, congratulated Deltans for having a listening governor, disclosing that only a phone call got Governor Okowa’s attention concerning  the road, which incidentally leads to the country home of the Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye. Said the monarch: “Our governor is a listening governor; we want to thank him, Okpe people should thank him because only one phone call to him and this road was done.” Chief Augoye in his speech observed that the road was impassable as at December 2015 when government awarded the contract for the construction.