Niger Govt Squanders N500m on Shoddy Rehabilitated Minna-Suleja Road-APGA

By Saka Bolaji, Minna

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Niger State Chapter has accused the state government of squandering N500 million tax payers money on the rehabilitation of Minna-Suleja road without positive impact.

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of the state had awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the 98 kilometer Federal road for N500 million.

Three months after the rehabilitation of the road, it has again become a death trap for commuters, APGA said.

Governor Bello has attributed the sudden dilapidation of the road to the presence of numerous trucks and articulated vehicles plying the roads with overload.

The governor stated that he would enact law to check the excess of the trucks on the road.

But the Niger state chairman of APGA, Mallam Musa Liman accused the contractor that rehabilitated the road for carrying out a shoddy job, just as he described the state government as “wasteful”.

Liman urged the state government to accept responsibility of what he called failure to follow due process on the award and execution of the road project.

He said: “Time has come when we will call this administration to order over its wasteful spending as if the resources they are dispersing belong to them.

“If the rehabilitation was carried out well, there was no way it will have deteriorated just within such a short period.”

The state government has expressed reservation over the technical competence of the chairman to judge the contractors.

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant on media to the Governor Mr Jide Orintunsin stated that the state government has always follows due process in the award of all contract.

He further said the state government was mindful of the economic downturn the country is currently facing and has been prudent in its spending.