Delta Revokes N10bn Road Contract, May Withdraw Apology For Omo-Agege

The Delta State government has revoked the contract for Sector A of the Ughelli-Asaba dual carriageway due to poor performance by the contractor.

The decision was taken at the State Executive Council meeting yesterday.

The commissioner for information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, told journalists in Asaba that the council approved the revocation because the contractor was not able to execute the job as expected.

He said the contract was awarded in 2013 and the contractor failed to perform to the expectation of the state government.

“At today’s exco meeting, we terminated the contract of Sector A of the Ughelli/Asaba expressway. Sector A is from Ughelli to Aradhe in Isoko North local government area.

“The contractor that has been handling that project since 2013 when it was awarded, but has not been performing up to expectation. We have not only repudiated it, we have also approved the award of that project to another contractor immediately,” he said.

The commissioner also disclosed that the meeting approved the construction of Etua-Etiti, Etua-Oliogo roads in Ndokwa West local government area of the state.

He said more projects were reviewed due to rising cost of construction materials, adding that the contract for the construction of Ayakoromo bridge which was terminated earlier had been reviewed with a view to helping it receive the speed it deserved.

In another development, the state government  has threatened to withdraw the apology tendered to Nigerians on behalf of the deputy senate president, Chief Ovie Omo-Agege, over the snatching of the mace at the Senate chamber a few years ago.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa said it took the state a great deal to apologise on his behalf to douse the consequences.

Omo-Agege has said among other things that by the records of the Debt Management Office, Delta State has the second-highest debt portfolio in the country, saying this is certainly unacceptable despite the 13 per cent derivation along with internally generated revenue.

But the commissioner for information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who is the spokesman of the Atiku-Okowa joint ticket presidential campaign organisation, in a reaction, chided Omo-Agege for abandoning his manifesto to engage his principal in campaigns of calumny, saying he forgot they had to apologise as a state on his behalf to Nigerians.