NO MORE PHANTOM FERMA CONTRACTS - FG

By NBF News

By Emeka Mamah
Federal Government, yesterday, said in Abuja that it will no longer allow the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agen-cy, FERMA, to award fake contracts for the maintenan-ce of roads, saying that the era for such misuse of public fund was over.

This was made known by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen while reacting to allegations that he was frustrating the inauguration of the new board for FERMA.

He said: ''The Federal Ministry of Works will not allow FERMA to degenerate to its sorry state of the past when fathom contracts were awarded and nothing to show for it.

''Such tendencies have no place in the ongoing reform of the road sector, and no amount of blackmail will put the hand of the reform clock backwards.'

The minister, who spoke through his Special Assistant, Media, Mr. Tony Ikpasaja, said he was not against the confirmation of the appointments into the board of FERMA, adding that he had no reasons to do so.

Onolememen stressed that he initiated a memorandum to President Goodluck Jonathan on the desirability of the reconstitution of FERMA in September last year, wondering what he would achieve by working in concert with anybody to thwart his own efforts.

According to him, he had actually booked for accommodation for the inauguration of FERMA's board when his attention was drawn to the fact that such appointments required the confirmation of the Senate before inauguration.