Reps fault quality of materials, slow pace of work at Customs Training College, Iperu Project Site
●House Committee Chair, Abejide Recommends Replacement, Probe of Contractors
By Ralph Omololu Agbana
The House of Representatives Committee on Customs and Excise has decried the quality of materials and slow pace of work at the project site of the Nigeria Customs Service Training College/ Federal Operating Unit (FOU) in Iperu-Ilishan-Remo, Ogun II Command.
Consequently, Chairman of the House Committee, Hon Leke Abejide (Yagba Federal Constituency, Kogi State) has recommended the immediate replacement and probe of the contractors, CBC Global.
The order of inquiry on the project followed a resolution during the visit by members of the committee to the construction site on Tuesday to interface with the contractors and inspect the project. The visit also allowed the committee to investigate the work done, the amount received by the contractor, and the quality of materials.
The contract for the construction of Nigeria Customs Service Training College was awarded at the cost of about N200bn, with duration of construction work expected to last 36 months, out of which the contractors have spent 18 months on site.
The committee observed that the work done so far and the quality of materials used signified that the construction company is incapable of handling the project, therefore, it was suggested that the company should appear before the committee in Abuja.
Committee Chairman, Hon Leke Abejide stated: “The rate at which the slow pace of work is going on, there is no way they can meet up with the time frame, also the quality of the blocks being used for the construction is very low therefore, they will be invited to the national assembly to appear before the committee. We are here as enshrined in the constitution to check project domicile in the command and to compare whether they are in line with what was approved in the budget, especially the last two budgets of 2023 and 2024 which will guide the committee on what to approve and what to remove in the 2025 budget where there is no or poor performance, but to our surprise the Comptroller of this command (Ogun II Area Command) has failed, he was supposed to lead us here to inspect this project”.
