By Gloria Ikibah
The House of Representatives has quizzed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Dr Yakubu Adam, over the abandoned Gidanwaya-Guaran Dutse-Waman Rafi-Saminaka-Kano road project of which payment had been made in full to the sum of N1.46 billion.
This was the resolution of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday at it’s resumed investigation when the Permanent Secretary appeared before it, after failing failing to honour it’s for two consecutive time over the matter.
The Committee chairman, Rep Bamidele Salam, stated that the money for the project was a loan by the Federal Government.
Salam said: “You were invited concerning an exercise that is about to commence which is the inspection of critical national assets especially roads that were constructed in the last five years.
“Information we received from the debt management office indicated the number of roads were even undertaken with loans taken by the federal government. But in particular, a particular road with the title Gidanwaya-Guaran Dutse-Waman Rafi-Saminaka-Kano road in Kaduna State awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works on the 5th of October 2022 and the sum of N1.461 billion to Messrs Jam Jam Dynamic Platform Limited.
“This road was supposed to be completed within 12 months. There’s an allegation that the road awarded in 2022 has not been started as we speak and there has been full payment of the sum by the Federal Ministry of Works to the contractor concerned.
“As a committee of equity, we believe strongly that we must give all parties fair hearing. You should provide information on the status of the road. We asked for certain documents to be provided and we expect that you would provide us with better insight so the committee can take a decision on the best way to ascertain the truthfulness of the claim that road has been done, while full payment has been effected to the contractor.”
In response, the Permanent Secretary said the amount was not for the entire stretch which is about 133km but a portion of the road.
According to him, the road was done in phases due to paucity of funds. He expressed surprise that the road had not been done.
Adam apologised for not honouring previous invitations, as be said he didn’t receive any.
The Committee ordered that the PS must come back on Monday and also directed him to submit all relevant documents related to the project by Friday, enable the members study the submission for a proper probe of the matter.