The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has said that the reason behind so many uncompleted government projects in the country is the procurement law.
He said this during the inauguration of the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola Flyover in the state capital, Port Harcourt, on Wednesday.
The governor stated that they had to amend the state’s procurement law in order to bypass the bottleneck of the Federal Government’s procurement law.
“I found out that part of the problems we are having with so many uncompleted projects has to do with our procurement law. If you need the procurement law, it will take a very long to complete a project because how much does our procurement law (Federal) say? 15 percent to 30 percent.
“When you give a contractor 15 percent, before you pay another money inflation is almost every day and then they will come for variation because of high cost of building materials.
“But in our own case, I called Mr Speaker to say we can’t continue with this, we have to amend our own procurement law that will give us the latitude where we can pay a company we know that has the capacity to deliver within time, we pay that company 70 percent and that is why no project being handled by Julius Berger that is uncompleted,” Wike said.
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He said that it took only eight months for the 11th and 12th flyovers he constructed in the state to be completed after they were commissioned in August 2022.
The President-elect, Bola Tinubu, was in attendance to inaugurate the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola Flyover and Governor Wike explained why he invited the former Lagos State governor.
“Your Excellency, the day you came to campaign in Rivers State, you paid us a visit in the government house Port Harcourt, I am happy and I know Kayode Fayemi was there, Umahi was there and some other people. I did say I invited one of the presidential candidates to come and commission the Mkpolu-Orowoluko Flyover; I invited another presidential candidate to commission Rumogba Flyover.
“But when you came the campaign was almost over, you had about three more days to round up your campaigns, but I said I will invite you after the election to come and commission your own project. To the glory of God, you are coming as the President-elect to commission this project,” he explained.
Also in attendance at the event alongside Tinubu were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila as well as the governors of Jigawa, Ebonyi, Kwara, and Imo, among others. Some former governors of the APC were also in attendance.
The President-Elect thanked Wike for declaring Wednesday as a holiday in honour of his visit to the South-South state.
Last modified: May 3, 2023
