Federal Government has approved the sum of three billion naira from the Sukuk bond to fund the Numan-Jalingo road project between Adamawa and Taraba State in the northeast, Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Works and Housing, Engineer Mu’azu Sambo Jaji made the declaration on Friday during an inspection of the Federal roads under construction within the two states.
He said that the fund would be released to the contractor handling the job in the next two months, adding that the funds would go a long way in executing the project.
The Minister warned the contractor handling the work to wake up to the expectations of completing the road or get sacked.
The Jaji also visited the site of the construction company located at Numan town in Adamawa to ascertain the capability of the company to deliver on the contract.
He said after the tour that, he identified a paucity of funds on the part of the government due to Covid- 19 which locked down the whole world.
The minister, therefore, warned the contractor to be more serious when funds would be released in the next few days or lose the contract to a more competent construction company.
It could be recalled that the Jalingo Numan road was awarded in March 2017, to be completed in July 2019.
Our reporter further reports that the road project was constructed seven kilometers out of 103.5 kilometers from Numan to Jalingo.
Frank Kohshola, the company’s site Engineer while speaking told newsmen that only N1.5 billion was given to the company after awarding of the contract in 2017, he blamed insecurity and lack of funds for the slow pace of the work.
Mrs. Maria Zira, Engineer supervising the work from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, Yola Field Office said that the company had submitted two certificates of non rejection but payment was still pending.
Zira also identified insecurity as one of the factors that mitigated against the execution of the work.
Sani Sulaiman
