By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
Contractors handling UBEC/SUBEB jobs in Kwara State may risk revocaction of their contracts if they fail to meet project specifications and quality.
Executive Chairman of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, KWASUBEB, Professor Shehu Adaranaja, who read this riot act at the weekend, said that such contractors also risk being blacklisted.
Adaramaja revealed that various renovation or rehabilitation works are ongoing across 600 schools in Kwara State, which was made possible by the efforts of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to make Kwara access seven-year matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.
Speaking in Gorobani Village, in Kaiama Local Government Area of the state during the inspection of ongoing UBEC/SUBEB intervention projects for 2014-2019, Adaramaja warned that the Board would not hesitate to apply appropriate punitive measures against any contractor who fails to comply with specifications of the projects.
He warned, “To the contractors, the message is clear: get it done the way it should be done and get paid, failure to do that, we will reverse the contract. After the first and second warning, the third warning is to revoke the contract. The guideline is clear and we are not going to compromise.”
The executive chairman added, “We don’t want a situation where somebody will just write to us requesting for payment; we want to see it ourselves, we want to see the percentage of work done before payment is made, because we don’t want to have abandoned projects.
“We will pay you based on actual job done, because we don’t want people to run away with public money. That is the message from the governor and we are happy for that, we appreciate him for treading the path of honour.”
Speaking on his assessment of the projects inspected, the SUBEB boss said that some contractors performed excellently well, while others performed below expectations.
He added that so far so good, some of the contractors did well and that what they have done was okay for the board, but that some were below the standard, which would be by no means accepted.
Meanwhile, some of the projects inspected in Kaiama Local Government, he said, included renovation of four classrooms at Tunga Aboki LGEA Primary School; remodelling of five classrooms at LGEA Central Primary School, Kaiama; renovation of four classrooms and construction of a block of two classrooms.
Also, construction of four compartment of VIP toilet at Kamaji LGEA Primary School, remodeling of four classrooms with two offices at LGEA Primary School Bezira,
renovation of four classrooms at Kugiji LGEA Primary School and renovation of two classrooms at KLGEA Primary School Shiri Gweria were also inspected.
Others were construction of a block of three classrooms KLGEA Kanikoko Primary School; construction of a block of three classrooms and four compartment of VIP toilet at Darulsalam Nomadic LGEA School.
