The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) on Friday advised Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s) of government to sanction contractors who failed to complete projects awarded to them.
Mr Sule Unekwuojo, leader of the South West Monitoring and Evaluation Team of the commission, gave the advice during the verification of selected projects at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos State.
According to Unekwuojo, although several projects had been tracked and verified across the zone, some were adjudged unsatisfactory, because of erring contractors who failed to complete them.
“We have inspected more than 20 projects all the way from Ekiti, Osogbo, Ibadan and Lagos, where we concentrated on some at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital.
“We observed that the projects on ground in some states did not corroborate with the money released for the execution of the projects. Such contractors need to be brought to book and necessary punishment meted out in form of sanctions and refunds of government money not properly utilized for the intended purpose,” he said.
Unekwuojo, who is also Head, Finance and Accounts of the commission, observed that some contractors were in the habit of acting with impunity, due to alleged ties with highly placed individuals in the system.
“However, the MDA’s have our assurance and support to fast track the process that will bring such erring contractors, that are not performing, to book.
“Such contractors will be expressly reported to the appropriate agencies such as the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The FRC Team leader said MDAs should not be afraid to wield the big stick, whenever a contractor was not performing or found wanting, adding that they should also prioritize the procurement of items to specifically match the released funds against what was originally budgeted.
“FRC is about compliance, due diligence and getting value for money,” he said, explaining further that the core mandate of the commission was to track expenses of the federal government to wherever its money had been expended on projects.
“We track such projects through the MDA’s, follow through and check them up, evaluate money spent viz-a-viz what extent of completion projects have attained all over the sites visited,” Unekwuojo said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Oluyemi Ogun, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, said that the hospital was mainly dependent on money released by the federal government.
“Not much money is released to us and if we do not spend prudently the limited resources we have, the hospital will not be as presentable as it is. We do not make much from our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the little we make is mostly used in procuring basic items needed for running the offices.
“The reason we have been able to rehabilitate the wards and construct the Emergency Unit is because there has been an improvement in monies released in 2020,” Ogun said. (NAN)
