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The House of Representatives Committee on Works has warned contractors handling the Abuja-Kaduna highway project, that severe measures would be taken if they fail to abide by the contract terms.
The reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway was initially awarded to construction giant Julius Berger but was revoked by the Federal Government in 2024 due to the company’s failure to deliver on the project.
The contract was later reassigned to Infiouest Construction Company with a 14-month completion deadline.
Speaking during an oversight visit, Committee Chairman Akin Alabi emphasized the strategic importance of the road, stressing its significance to Nigerians.
He said “We all know the importance of this road. We know the controversies generated on this road, and we know how important it is to this administration and to all road users and of course, the parliament. In the last few decades, we’ve spent a lot of money on this road, but we’re yet to see the effect to the extent we’ll like to see it.
“We remember that this road was being handled by Julius Berger; but they failed to follow up their end of the bargain and after lots of meetings, interventions, Julius Berger’s contract was terminated and it was rewarded to Infiouest.
“That means there’s a big challenge, a lot of responsibility on their shoulder, because when you take a project away from Julius Berger, you expect them (Infiouest) to do better than Julius Berger and that’s a huge responsibility. We don’t just want to leave them to it, we want to make sure that we continue to be on their neck all through.
“It’s a collective responsibility because one of the things we promised as a committee is that every single kobo that’s been allocated to the Ministry of Works for every project must be accounted for. We want to see results for every single kobo allocated.
“Now this contract has been awarded, and we at the parliament will make sure we follow up on this project to see that quality is ensured, that’s very important and timeline is maintained. We’re going to play our part to ensure that they have no excuses. Funds will be made available to them but they must show us results for the funds allocated to them.
“We’re just beginning. Every two to three weeks, we’ll be monitoring them. We’ll be coming on site to check the progress, and when we come back, we don’t expect to see the same thing. It is going to be success for all Nigerians, and even for you as a company, because once you do well, Nigeria will not hesitate to give you bigger projects.
“What we’ve seen so far, you’ve demonstrated capacity, but we just hope it’s not the initial gara gara because we know that happens.”
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