Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Contractor Overpaid By N224 Million - Some things just don't make sense!

I've stopped trying to figure this country out. Seriously, it's a total waste of time. In a country with such vast resources as ours, it's a shameful thing to say that the missing Wings Aviation plane has still not been found.
Even more embarrassing is the talk about Fulani herdsmen being hired to look out for the plane's wreckage. There's even some whispers about herbalists or seers being asked to pinpoint the location of the aircraft. It's Crazy. NEMA should also employ squirrels and other animals to unite and find the missing plane, if that's the extent of their foolishness.
Such sorry situations just expose our inadequacies, and make us seem very incompetent. There's been a flurry of probes, allegations and counter-allegations going on in the power sector, and that on its own is another can of worms.

I read in one of the national dailies that a company handling the 561 megawatt station in Calabar was overpaid N224 million by the National Independent Power Project (NIPP), after collecting the actual contract sum of $151million.

How's that for starters? An extra N224 million.

The 561-megawatt power project is located along Calabar-Itu Road, in Onim Ankong, and was flagged off by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on March 6, 2006 and was to have been completed by November 2007. It still hasn't been completed.

The company in question is Marubeni International, a company that has been involved in the construction of the Kainji dam and other power projects in the country. According to the paper, as at the time of visit by the committee, less than 30 percent of construction work had been done on the project.

The National Independent Power Project (NIPP), in its records, showed that Marubeni had been paid the actual cost of the project and then paid an additional N224 million for reasons that could not be ascertained.

I think I am falling in love with the Yaradua administration - as long as they take steps to correct these mistakes that have been uncovered.