…Places disclaimer on infoquest Nig. Limited, insists no contract was awarded to them
…Demands unreserved apology from DailyTrust for unjustifiable, falsehood publication
By Dele Ogbodo
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Works on Tuesday confronted Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, for what the Minister supervising the Ministry, Engr. David Umahi, says has become their trade mark to arm-twist federal government through upward project review amounting to over N1.1 trillion on the Abuja-Kano dual carriage highway.
Addressing the media in his office, the Minister said government vehemently rejected the upward review of N.1.1 trillion even when Julius Berger claimed that the project is 65% completed and with payment of N391 billion to them.
He said: “On Abuja-Kano, they claimed the job has been completed up to 65% and N391 billion paid to them with no debt, why are they now asking for additional N1.1 trillion to finish the remaining 35% even without additional work.
“We are already seeing their tactics of intent to delay the project and considering the fact that the masses are suffering on that road, coupled with rising cost in inflation and the rampart accidents on the road, Federal Government through my Ministry said their ‘VOP’ can only be claimed based on very stringent terms.”
The Minister frowned at the company’s usual underhand tactics of de-marketing Federal Government through enlisting stakeholders to destroy and to tarnish the name of Federal Government, which he added is unacceptable.
“The question is, should we not do the right thing even if the wrong thing was done in the past? We are of the opinion that the Nigeria media who is part of the Nigeria should support the Ministry and report the thing that is factual and not falsehood.”
He said: “Let me say that I’m a qualified and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), I did not read my engineering from the ‘backyard’ we went to better schools than some of these contractors claiming that they read engineering.
“Already, the Abuja-Kano road that is still under construction is failing, please go and check, the 65% they claimed to have fixed is failing and nobody should come here to teach us engineering and so we (Federal Government) refused to pay them additional N1.1 trillion and that is where the problem started and we negotiated for 14 months instead of the 3 years they are proposing.
“And again Julius Berger said that they are going to finish the remaining 35% in 3 years on the remaining 240KMs and we said, no.
“And since it has become obvious that they cannot finish the project we decided to disaggregate the project in (sections 1&3).
And for no objection from BPP, the project was awarded for N252.9 billion to INFIOUEST International ltd and not INFOQUEST as claimed by mischief writers in the various publications of Monday (yesterday) on Abuja-Kano road project even with additional works.
“We are even shocked that Julius Berger is asking for N3.2 billion per kilometer instead of N2 billion for an existing road. I want to say without fear of contradiction that all that Julius Berger plc told Daily trust, Nation newspapers and others is not correct. The newspaper must do a retraction by publishing the facts in their papers and others.
“And this not peculiar to this contract alone. We have nothing personal against them and it is characteristics with Julius Berger and so they can no longer arm twist the federal government because you can never reduce their cost.
Umahi, explained further: “If they put any cost to any project you can never reduce it, who are you to reduce it.
“In engineering, no contractor is my boss, and I do not take instructions from them, no matter who is behind them, I don’t care.
“I work for Nigeria and for Mr. President and all of us are on the same page as far as the Renewed Hope programmes is concerned.”
However, in a statement made available on face-off between the Ministry and Julius Berger, Barr. Orji Orji, the SA the Minister on Media, said the Minister has rebutted in strong terms the unwarranted, false, misleading, and damaging report published in Daily Trust Newspapers of 21st January 2025, which falsely represented the Federal Ministry of Works as having awarded a section of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road dualization to Infoquest Nigeria Ltd.
In a press conference attended by the Minister of State for Works, Barr. Mohammed Goronyo, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Works, Engr. Folunso Adebiyi and key directors of the Ministry, Umahi, described as mischievous, insensitively misleading and injurious the statement credited to him in the said publication, where he was wrongly quoted to have said that Infoquest Nigeria Ltd secured a “No objection” of N252.89 billion from the Bureau of Public Procurement ( BPP) for the rehabilitation of a section Abuja- Kaduna- Zaria-Kano road and where they described the Ministry as having awarded the said contract to an obscure company.
According to Orji, the Minister made it clear that the Ministry had no business relationship with Infoquest Nigeria Ltd.
He further made it known that the company that has a contractual relationship with the Ministry on the said project is Infiouest International Limited and that the company is corporately active and is absolutely in compliance with all legal requirements and regulations set by the Companies and Allied Matters Act.
He berated the mischief created by the publication as a deliberate orchestration by a cartel to malign the Ministry, undermine the efforts of the Renewed Hope administration in revolutionizing road infrastructure development and de-market the company that has proven capacity in road construction.
He demanded from Daily Trust Newspapers a public apology to the Federal Ministry of Works to be published in at least 5 national dailies for unjustifiably publishing falsehood against the Ministry of Works.
The Minister, the SA, said alluded to the mischiefs and deliberate misrepresentation of facts contained in the sponsored publications made in several national dailies by Julius Berger Plc recently on the reason why they reneged in their contractual obligations in respect of the section of Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road they were handling before it was determined.
He wondered why the coordinated onslaught of falsehood, blackmail, gang-up by adversaries to the policy of government just because of the Ministry’s insistence on a new order of value for money, quality assurance and best practices in project pricing and execution.
He urged the public and the press to join in this desirable fight against national sabotage by some contractors.
In his remarks, the Minister of State, said he was delighted by the proactiveness and resoluteness shown by the Ministry in decapitating the intentions of those who made the false publication against the Ministry which according to him was intended to distract the Ministry and undermine its confidence before Nigerians.
the media operators not to allow themselves to be used by the fifth columnists to publish unfounded reports to undermine the Renewed Hope agenda but should always crosscheck their information with the appropriate authority so as to let out only the truth to the public.
