Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen has revealed how his ministry saved N11 billion which was fraudulently built into a single road contract by the contractors and corrupt ministry officials.
According to a statement by the Deputy Director (Information) in his ministry, Mr Theodore Ogaziechi, Onolememen spoke during the 2014 International Anti-Corruption Day yesterday, adding that the corrupt officials hide such frauds under ‘’project augmentation.’’
Onolememen said that the project augmentation policy had been used over the years by some engineers in the ministry to rip off the nation through connivance with contractors, pointing further that ‘’this unwholesome exercise has since been nipped in the bud since the inception of this administration.’’
He said, ‘’N11billion was retrieved from a fraudulent road contract transaction when some officials wrote for re-billment of a particular project,’’ noting also that the stoppage of the practice was one of the policies of President Goodluck Jonathan aimed at stamping out corruption in the road sector.
‘’When Project Augmentation was cancelled, most contractors threatened to abandon projects and even went to the National Assembly to lobby and whip up sentiments.
‘’However, we were quick to notify the National Assembly that the policy was that of Mr. President and if contractors were not willing to comply, offers would be made to reputable Chinese companies to take over the projects. On this note, contractors returned to site,’’ he added.(Vanguard)
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