The Zamfara State government has presented some evidence against the immediate past administration in the state led by Bello Matawalle, now the Minister of State for Defense, concerning the Gusau International (Cargo) Airport project.
On Friday, Matawalle refuted claims of embezzling billions of dollars from the Zamfara cargo airport project. In a statement made today in Gusau, the Spokesperson for Zamfara Governor, Sulaiman Bala Idris, stated that Matawalle’s response revealed a “blatant violation of trust”.
Recall, Parallel Facts had reported on how Mr Matawalle fleeced the state of billions of naira through award of phantom contracts to phony companies with links to the former governor and now Minister of the federal republic of Nigeria.
According to him, the current administration’s tragic financial situation in Zamfara State is clearly a result of the previous administration of Bello Matawalle, who, through a simple phone call, directed the Ministry of Local Government to remove 1,000,000,000 billion Naira from the Local Government Joint Account on October 25th, 2021, and paid 825,000,000 million Naira to contractors without any valuation.
The statement was written in sections: “The Zamfara State Government would ordinarily not respond to an accused embezzler. However, as a responsible government, we feel compelled to provide the facts following his denial of the alleged embezzlement.
“To avoid doubt, the embezzlement of resources from the people of Zamfara through the airport was just a tiny part of many other acts of theft and financial banditry committed by Bello Matawalle in various incomplete projects.
“It is doubtful that the project’s cost was reduced from 28 billion Naira to 11 billion Naira in round figures. No reputable bidder would agree to a drastic reduction of 61% in cost without a corresponding reduction in the scope of work. This raises questions about the integrity of the bidding process. Matawalle is seemingly trying to cast doubt on the credibility of their contractor.
“Matawalle has claimed that the airport project was financed through what he called ‘contract financing’; the former governor should have asked before embarrassing himself. It is known as the ‘Contract Financing Facility (CFF)’, which happens between the bank and the contractor. The government isn’t involved at all. All available documents indicate that the contractors were paid using funds from the state government and not through the Contract Financing Facility (CFF).
“We must emphasize that the claim that payments were made to the contractor solely based on certificates issued by the supervising ministry or agency is false. Our records clearly show that the three payments made to the contractor were not based on an accurate assessment of the work done and certified by the supervising ministry.
“For the record, an initial advance payment was made to the contractors representing 30% of the total contract in the sum of N3,465,569,736.90 without the approval of the
designs and bills of quantities for the project by relevant government departments on June 19, 2020, almost eleven months after the award. Throughout the period, nothing was done to certify the drawings and bills and secure the necessary approvals of relevant airport regulatory authorities.
“Only a few days after the initial payment, the government came up with new terminology in contract ‘corruption management’ and approved what it called a ‘loan’ to the contractors in the sum of N2,310,379,824.60. This payment was referred to as a loan to the contractors when very little work had been done on-site. The relevant government institutions did not certify the payment, weren’t correctly vouched, and were therefore irregular in the government’s finance management.
“Furthermore, a dual carriageway from the roundabout to the airport, drainage, and gate have not been completed, contrary to Matawalle’s claim.”Also, the link road from the main road to the airport roundabout was an additional work the contractor was verbally and arbitrarily directed to execute. The Matawalle administration did not regularize this.” The claim that the runway, taxi, Apron, terminal building, ‘water pool’ water reservoir, boreholes, cargo hall, and fire service buildings are between 50 and 100% complete is laughable.
“Available records show that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) were only involved in the project after it had already begun, which goes against standard practice in the aviation industry. Usually, they must be involved in all project stages, including planning, design, and implementation.
“Matawalle’s claim that the project was 50–100% completed, while in another paragraph, it was reported as 30% completed, equivalent to 3.47 billion Naira, raises the question of why the contractor was paid the sum of 6.78 billion Naira if the project was only 30% completed.
“It is essential to remind the former governor that the contractor and the supervising ministry measured all on-site work together during his administration. The measurements were taken during the execution of the project, and the records are available. Therefore, the total value of the work done to date, 2.25 billion Naira (19.47%), was based on these measurements.
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