Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has said his administration will not award contracts for infrastructure projects in the territory unless there is money to fund such contracts.
This, according to him, is because he intends to achieve results.
The minister also said in addition to the national budget, infrastructure projects in the FCT will be funded through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Wike stated this on Monday at the opening of a meeting with contractors handling different projects in the FCT.
“I want to achieve results so I will not award a contract when I do not have money to fund it.
“We are going to fund you and you will tell us the time within which the project will be completed. If we agreed three months, it is three months; If I give six months, it is six months.
“We do not want to hear this happened and this did not happen. I do not want to hear any excuses at all,” Wike told the contractors.
He promised that he will get all contractors back to site under his direct supervision and the office of the Minister of State.
“After our inauguration, we outlined our short-, medium-, and long-term plans to reposition the capital city, after which we went out to inspect projects that were awarded before us but abandoned for one reason or the other. Now time has come for action.
“First of all, on the metro light train, President Bola Tinubu has given us a matching order that he wants to ride on the metro light train. So, it is a key project that we must achieve,” he said.
Wike added that Tinubu had equally complained about abandoned projects, particularly roads which were part of critical infrastructure.
Describing road networks as “key infrastructure” that makes a city, the minister pointed out that the issue of sanitation, streetlights and shanties were being addressed.
“But the roads are very key and so, we are trying to see how we can map out strategies and structure funding so that we do not have problems with completion.
“I am determined to get every contractor back to site with direct supervision from my office and the office of the Minister of State.
“The major problem we are having in this country is the problem of supervision and so we are not going to tolerate anything below standard.
“If there are people you have been working with that have compromised standards, too bad, too bad; not with me. I am not going to accept anything that is below standard,” he said.
The minister said that together with the contractors, they would restructure how to fund projects so that all contractors could go back to site and work.
He assured the commencement of all abandoned projects in all sections of the FCT, stressing that the measure would create employment.
