The House of Representatives committee on Ecological Fund, has given the Ecological Fund Office (EFO) until Thursday to provide documents on the erosion and flood control project at Kuchiako 1 District, New Hope Avenue in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja.
The Committee in its resolution after an oversight visit to some projects under execution by the EFO also directed the office to produce the contractor handling the project.
The Committee, led by Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, was alarmed that the contractor was not on ground and no information about the project was made available to its members. “The committee members are feeling that the contractor treated them with disdain. We are just from Karshi and here we are here in Kuje in the spirit of patriotism and nationalism and call to duty by the National Assembly, and in line with the provision of the constitution of what we should do. We are now doing it and you see the frustration. It is so sad to come and meet nobody.
“The only thing we are told is that they want to commission the work. We have seen nothing to commission here and we are going to pass this to the EFO. The contractor is not responsible to us though. But the EFO is responsible to us and should answer questions from us because we directly oversight them. They will in turn inform the contractor. We have nothing to commission here as far as the committee is concerned and until we resolve such, I am afraid there is nothing to commission.
“If the contractor is recalcitrant, then we move to the next to stage and suspend the contractor from taking any job on any of the projects under the EFO. It is going to be a resolution. We would present it on the floor of the House. We are not threatening anybody but the right thing must be done,” the chairman said after the visit on Monday.
The committee had earlier visited the site of the construction of hydraulics structures and road improvement works on eroded Tudun Wada-Karshi Road (phase 1) and emergency surface protection works on the reclaimed earthwork along Tudun Wada-Karshi Road, Abuja (phase 2).
Isiaka however said the project would improve the lives of the people in the area, adding that the EFO has done well under the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. “Of course, the ecological office itself under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, we have gone to several project sites and we are short of saying that the indicators are there that there is a paradigm shift totally away from what the ecological fund was known for,” he submitted.
