ZIK GBEMRE SPEAKS ON WHISTLE BLOWING ON SUBSTANDARD PROJECTS, FEELS GOV OBOREVWORI IS JUST PASSING VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE ON SELF

It is extremely laughable to hear Delta State Government under Governor Sheriff Oborevwori announced the launching of a Whistle Blowing policy, engaging citizens to report substandard or shoddy delivery of infrastructures state projects.

On the heels of that the government also demoted two supervising engineers, accused of corrupt and dishonest certifying of uncompleted road projects.

These developments according to the government were informed by

Governor Oborevwori’s emphasis on zero-tolerance for shoddy project delivery and accountability for public funds.

Our first reaction is that this is sheer government passing a vote of no confidence on self. The so beautified Whistle Blowing and the scapegoating of supervising engineers are both extreme manifestations of government corruption and the professed Oborevwori’s ‘zero tolerance’ the height of hypocrisy and cover up.

The governor and aides, heads of Ministries, Agencies and Department (MDAs), including those who announced the said Whistle Blowing policy and the suspension of engineers are the prime inducers who are sustaining a culture of shoddy projects in the state inherited from pass administrations.

Citizens who suffer substandard public projects that collapse within weeks of commissioning may have been blowing the whistle on the fake jobs before the petty policy declaration, but none would take responsibility for deliberate failure of officeholders who are handsomely paid by the state to allocate values for the substandard physical projects.

Are the projects invisible and the state lacking supervising engineers to monitor for quality assurance that the onus should now lie on citizens already asphyxiated by a government unresponsive to the common good to now be agitating against inferior projects before government can execute quality jobs?

Ironically, Charles Aniagwu under whose Ministry the governor first made the self mockery of testing shoddy projects with cutlass was the one who announced those petty Whistle Blowing policy.

And here is where they showed they are just being petty with the so called policy. Aniagwu says, “If any project in your community is going on and you feel either the contractor or supervising ministry is performing below what you see or believe should be the standard, our whistleblower line is for you to be able to reach out to us. You can send text messages, WhatsApp messages and we also encourage pictures and videos if possible.

“We are using it to ensure our people living in their respective communities participate in our governance process so it is not only the ministry or officials of government who are able to talk to us or talk to the government with respect to projects within your community.”

Mr Honourable Commissioner, people can’t report substandard projects on wishful thinking, feelings or emotions. That someone saw a drainage project casting with 12mm in one location and same person finds 8mm being used on similar project in another location doesn’t mean the 8mm project is substandard.

It takes the contract specifications to tell if a project is being shoddily executed or not. If in actual fact it was discovered that on the 12mm casting project, the Bill of Engineering Measurement And Evaluation ‘BEME’ actually specified 14mm and same project elsewhere specified 8mm where the contractor met the specification, it’s the 12mm contractor that is delivering substandard project. He is using below what was specified.

So, even when a substandard job becomes so glaring, raising blind allegations without knowledge of the project specs, BEME you call it, is not a responsible Whistle Blowing.

So is the governor prepared to give the populace the projects rates, content and terms of delivery? In the past when we had a measure of decorum, transparency in government projects delivery, a signpost was erected on site with summary content of the project.

It states the contractor, project sponsor, contract name with clear distance to cover for road projects, whether sundry features are embedded, sometimes delivery timeline and other vitals.

That gives any resident an idea of the project and likely what is expected. Today, all of these are missing. Government just declares in the media that contract has been awarded, most times in exaggerated terms and content.

This prevailing secrecy in government contracting has also been instigating under delivery of projects. Even if a contractor procured and expended the specified quality materials, if he delivers only 10km for a contract of 15km, what do we make of that. And that, under execution, is profound in most Delta state projects.

Besides, the Governor, Commissioners, special project monitors and engineers collect all the bloated allowance for monitoring and certifying all the fake projects we see commissioned. Who is going to fund or pay for the airtime and data for the Community Whistle blowers Aniagwu expects to take responsibility for his own failures?

The norm is that a Whistle Blower gets a rewards to report effectively. The government policy he announced want jobless Deltans to report government instigated substandard projects with the little to carry them through each passing day of hardship for the majority while those government pays to supervise projects swell their pockets with inducements to allow substandard delivery. ‘Una get sense well well’.

We maintain that a good contract monitor evaluates its delivery to achieve quality execution based on the terms entered and signed by both parties, including spelt sanctions against any defaulting party to the contract.

And for a government that has a bloated supervisory chain, the challenge of shoddy projects shouldn’t arise. Under Delta’s culture of inferior projects which the Oborevwori administration, in all fairness, inherited from previous governments, the projects are compromised from the point of award.

When the governor, a delegated head of MDA undermines merit and competence to award an infrastructure contract on partisan sentiment to friends, political associates and family members, you have already set the tone for substandard delivery of that project.

Many times, these contracts are awarded as “kolanut’ projects as introduced under Sen Ifeanyi Okowa to incompetent associates or fronts with no capacity. And at times, curious citizens find out the original contractor has resold to a third party contractor who has the equipment to execute.

At other times, contracts are awarded with undocumented terms to return what has become known in local parlance as ‘kickback’, kickfronts’ from the usually inflated contract cost back to the awarding authorities. Once gratification is collected by the awarder, compromise has set in.

So this cover up dressed at Whistle Blowing will not fly. Government cannot award critical contracts to charlatans on partisan interest, collect gratifications from contractors, set the tone for substandard delivery of the project and expect to see quality project delivery.

A good project should also have a clear timeline and payment schedule that guarantee reliable expected delivery date and financial stability to procure the right materials to deliver a good job.

It’s so shameful to hear Aniagwu making it so so simple that a contractor who quoted and won a contract can always come back to say the quoted sum was no longer enough and just like that, Oborevwori is ever ready to grant variation. ‘Na wa oo’. Where a contractor is starved of funds and kept under pressure to deliver, you get substandard delivery.

This is where the Wike effect is endearing the former Rivers state governor to his admirers. Despite his reckless mouth, Nyesom Wike issues contracts to deliver to agreed quality. He mobilises and pays contractor as at when due to deliver even before the fixed timelines. It’s hard for a contractor to fail Wike. The consequences will be not be palatable.

In Delta state no decorum, anything goes, forgetting that ‘you do anyhow, you see anyhow’. A couple of days ago, Ughelli South LG Chairman, Lucky Avweromre, who carries a P.hD about with inferiority complex, was in Okuama to give matching orders to contractors handling emergency projects to resettle Ewu IDP Camp returnees to normal life after the destruction of the community over killing of soldiers.

To the uninformed who saw pictures and ranting of the conceited LG chairman giving contractors four weeks ultimatum to complete a community hall, health center, a primary and secondary school projects that should have been completed long before, you would think he was into some serious supervision.

But Ughelli South LG boss Avweromre was actually ranting to cover up his deficient supervision and to please the governor. Looking at the level of completion alone, you know the contractors won’t be able to deliver in two months, talk much of four weeks.

And the quality assurance for the contracts are suspicious. Infact a couple of months back when we (NDPC) visited, a section of the community hall project collapsed at the foundation. No supervisor on site, the contractors were faceless as there was no signpost giving projects summary.

We are equally not pleased that government supervising engineers are being demoted over failures for which Commissioners,permanent secretaries and directors in-charge of such projects should also be suspended for intentional negligence while contracts they awarded are being shoddily delivered.

We are aware of how several honest supervision report by engineers are discarded by their heads and coerced to approve or certify substandard projects. We are equally aware there are substandard ongoing projects everywhere beyond the ones involving the suspended contractors. There should be no selective punishment.

The totality of it is that Delta State Government should bury its petty Whistle Blowing on projects the populace have no knowledge of the contractual terms and BEME. We don’t want a situation where government will tomorrow blame communities for substandard projects delivery by compromised contractors on the excuse that resident didn’t blow the whistle.

Government must take responsibility for its failures. Projects should be given to competent contractors in clear achievable terms that spell sanctions for any defaulting party to the contract.

People will protest against inferior projects, but the government Whistle Blowing is a scam. It is the Oborevwori administration passing vote of no confidence on self.

We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes