Reps To Probe N11bn Abandoned Numan-Jalingo Road Contract

The House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Works to investigate the abandonment of the N11 billion Numan -Jalingo road contract awarded since 2017.
This followed the adoption of amendments to a motion moved by Hon. Sadiq Abbass Tafida at plenary yesterday.

Moving the motion, the lawmaker said Numan/Jalingo Road is a trunk ‘A’ Federal Government Road that links most of the cities in the north with the eastern parts of Nigeria.

He said: “In 2017, the construction of the road was awarded to DEUX Project Nig. Ltd for eleven billion naira (N11,000,000,000.00) with a completion timeline of twenty (20) months by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, but no progress has been made at the site in seven years.

“During a visit to the site, the former Honourable Minister of State, Works, and Housing, Hon. Mư’azu Sambo, stated that the Federal Government had allocated three billion naira (N3,000,000,000.00) to continue the project, attributing the delay to COVID-19. but progress remains slow for over 30 months.

“The contractor gave conflicting information to the former Honourable Minister,
stating that one billion and five hundred thousand naira (N1,500,000,000.00) had been disbursed for the project and citing security challenges as hindrances to progress.

“Conflicting reasons have not been resolved, and Contractor Deux Project Nig. Ltd. lacks necessary capacity for continued construction work, leading to excuses.

“Bandits, armed robbers and kidnappers have taken advantage of the deplorable situation of the road and turned the area to a permanent hub for criminal activities.