The Minister of State for Water Resources and Sanitation, Bello Goronyo, has invited for questioning a contractor in Adamawa State who failed to execute a project he was paid for.
The minister, who was in Adamawa State on Friday to inspect water projects, was shocked upon getting to Talum, an agrarian community in Shelleng Local Government Area of southern Adamawa, that the pump station installation project there had not been executed after the contractor allegedly gave the impression that it had been done.
Goronyo, who took the pain to walk a long bush path to inspect the Talum pump station installation project, told newsmen later in the evening in Yola that he needed to meet the contractor one-on-one over his failure.
“I have summoned the contractor to meet me in my office in Abuja on Monday over the project,” he said.
According to him: “The federal government is on its toes to ensure projects are concluded according to specifications. There is no way someone will collect money for a project and not execute it. What I did in the morning by taking the pain to view all project sites, no matter the difficulty, is a demonstration that we will see to all projects being completed and delivered to the Nigerian people.”
The Talum pump station project was contracted for N128 million, according to the minister, to America West African Agro Ltd.
The Water Resources Minister of State, as part of his visit to Adamawa State, toured the Kiri Dam, a 615-metric-cubic facility constructed in 1982 to provide irrigation water for the sugar refinery in Numan, now known as Dangote Sugar Refinery after the Dangote Group acquired it in 2002.
The minister was also at the Government House, Yola, where he told Governor Ahmadu Fintiri that President Tinubu’s administration is determined to fully utilise water resources, especially for irrigation to boost food production.
Governor Fintiri, in his response, avowed that he would always cooperate with the federal government in the interest of the people.
