EKITI GOVT. TO PROSECUTE CONTRACTORS, OTHERS OVER SHODDY JOBS
Some contractors handling government projects in Ekiti State and their collaborators in the State Public Service now risk prosecution by the State Government over shoddy execution of projects awarded to them, Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Mr. Wale Ojo-Lanre has said.
Ojo-Lanre, who made this known in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti today and made available to journalists, said the State Governor, Engr. Segun Oni has received complaints from members of the public on some of the projects and he has decided to set up an ad-hoc committee to look into all the projects, both ongoing and completed.
He said it was wicked for contractors to be short-changing the government, having been paid for the jobs, adding that; “most of our people are just wicked and callous. All that they are interested in is to make quick money at the detriment of the public but we are not going to allow them the freedom to do that.
“It is obvious that many of our people are still living in the past, believing that it is still business as usual. However, by the time they begin to face prosecution, reality will be dawn on them that the era of executing projects just for the purpose of commissioning and fanfare is gone.
“It is therefore in the best interest of the contractors and their collaborators in the public service to quietly go back to site now and correct the shoddy jobs that they have done before they begin to face the music.
“This is because if they wait until they are exposed, we won't only publish their names and those of their collaborators in the supervisory ministries, department and agencies, we will ensure that that are prosecuted.”
The governor's spokesperson, who called on community leaders in the State to constitute themselves into a watchdog over projects being executed in their respective communities, noted that; “projects being executed by the government are meant for the use of the communities where they are sited. It is therefore in the interest of the benefitting communities that they protect the projects by making sure that they are not short-changed by the contractors. This has become necessary because most of the ministry officials supervising the projects have allowed themselves to be compromised.
“We all need to be vigilant so that we don't endanger the lives of our people because as it is now, we cannot rely solely on the judgment of our ministry officials as past experiences have shown that most of them are only interested in quick money and they are willing to put the lives of Ekiti people at risk to achieve their dubious aim.”