Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has said part of the reasons why there are uncompleted projects across the country is the mobilisation percentage as enshrined in Nigerian procurement law.
Wike made the statement while asking President-elect, Ahmed Bola Tinubu to refund the state government the contract values of the flyover bridges constructed across federal roads by his administration in the state.
“Part of why we are having uncompleted projects has to do with our procurement laws. If you follow the procurement law, it will take very long to complete projects.
“How much does the procurement law, I mean for federal, say, 15 to 30 per cent (mobilisation)? When you give a contractor 15 per cent, inflation is rising almost every day, before you give another money, they will call for variation because of the increasing cost of materials.
“In our case, I call Mr. Speaker, to say we can’t continue with this. We had to amend our procurement law to give us the latitude to pay 70 per cent to a company we know has the capacity to deliver within time.
“That is why today, no project being handled by Julius Berger is uncompleted. We are dualising Ahoada to Omoku to Egbema to our boundary with Imo State. Julius Berger is doing that work. We are also dualising from Emohua, East West to Degema Junction, also by JB.
“How much did they charge us, about N80 billion. We fall back on our Internally Generated Revenue, to say every month, take N4 billion, and finish this road in 18 months. That is why we have never failed in completing our projects.
“Unfortunately, these projects are federal roads. We don’t want our people to suffer. I believe Federal Government should say let us refund these monies. I assure you, as you enter the office and approve to pay these monies back, other states will also do the same thing. So that (refund) is the first request we are making to you.”