With less than 60 days to the end of his second and final term, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, has approved over N7 billion variation claim for some of the ongoing health projects in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Lema Abubakar, stated this while briefing after the state executive council meeting in Sokoto.
Abubakar said N4.2 billion is for the variation claim of the ongoing construction of Sokoto State University Teaching Hospital, with an initial contract sum of N14. 4 billion, With this approval, the variation for the total contract sum now stands at N18.5 billion.
Similarly, N1.28 billion has been approved for the variation claim on the ongoing construction of the Premier Hospital, Tambuwal, which initial contract sum was M2.7 billion, it now stands at N4 billion naira.
The commissioner said N990 million has been approved as a variation of the ongoing Premier Hospital, Binji raising the total cost from N2.7 billion to N3.7 billion.
He attributed the new variations to the increase in the prices of items required for its completion, adding that the project has reached an advanced stage for completion.
Also at the briefing, the Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Bashir Gidado, said N1 billion was approved as a variation for the completion of additional works at the ongoing Sokoto new stadium project.
He said the variation is due to the recommendations made by the Minister of Sports, Sunday Dare, when he visited the state and inspected the project.
According to the commissioner, the additional works include the construction of more courts outside the premises, the erection of an electronic scoreboard and additional canopies among others.
Gidado said the initial contract sum of the stadium, if completed could be at par with its national replica, which was N2.7 billion, but it is now N3.7 billion.
