Nasarawa state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Hajiya Fati Sabo, has revealed that she was given N84 million to pay contractors for the failed school projects contract.
She reveled this on Wednesday, when she appeared before the Nasarawa state house of assembly alongside Secretary to the Nasarawa state government Aliyu Tijjani Ahmed, to explain why renovation work in government schools has been abandoned despite the released of N1 billion in 2018.
The commissioner explained that at the time she took over as commissioner on the 1st November the brief of the projects was not captured in the handover given to her by the then Permanent Secretary of the ministry Abdullahi Agwai.
She said, she came to know about the project on 23rd December 2019 when payment of N50 million was released to the ministry for payment to the job that were been carried out. As the payment came along with list of person that were expected to be settle for work done.
” Upon enquiry i came across a standing approval by His Excellency governor A.A Sule in the sum of N195 million to be paid in phases”. So far released have been made in three branches. First N50 million mentioned, second N18 million and last sum came in about N15 million, all in all about N84 million.
She added that when she started verifying those projects, she discovered that some politicians who were given the contracts started complaining that they were not mobilised.
The Secretary to the government of Nasarawa ( SSG) Tijjani Aliyu Ahmed , admitted that he received N1billion failed contract on November 2018 to renovate 205 secondary schools across the
state.
Tijjani who could not explain how he spent the money, told the lawmakers that records of what he did was in the Ministry but wondered why they choose to invite him instead the current commissioner.
He said for the renovation of those schools were awarded to politicians but none of them received up to 30 percent mobilisation from him and when he was leaving office as commission in May 2019, he left only N18 mllion out of the N1bn.