Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, at the weekend, expressed sadness over alleged shoddy jobs and syphoning of funds meant for the construction of Abakaliki-Afikpo federal highway by contractors.
He begged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to refund the state monies used in the construction of federal roads, saying the refund would enable the State to embark on the construction of other critical infrastructures.
He made this known while speaking to the Minister of Works, David Umahi, and his entourage, who paid him a courtesy visit as part of his ongoing tour of Federal Road projects across the country.
He expressed sadness over handling rehabilitation work on Abakaliki-Afikpo road, where the contractor allegedly syphoned funds meant for the project without execution.
Nwifuru blamed contractors and engineers for poor supervision of projects in parts of the country, especially in the South East region.
“Our major problem in this country is one not knowing his job schedule and that is why we are having shoddy jobs everywhere, all constructions should be channelled to the Federal Ministry of Works because they have all the manpower and capacity to do quality job,” he stated.
Earlier in a remark, Umahi congratulated Nwifuru for his performance in office within his first 100 days.
“We have to key into the centre to be treated like others; now that Mr President has graciously done what has never been done by giving us the Minister of Works, we are going to rewrite the wrongs.
“When cost of projects are hiked with low funding, the tendency is that the project could be abandoned, Nigerians under me will get value for their money and we are going to be very transparent about it,” he stated.
He called on governors to introduce parks along highways to ensure ease of transportation.
