The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has ordered the arrest of the Managing Director of Hartland Nigeria Limited over the company’s failure to complete an 11-kilometre section of the Benin-Onitsha Expressway despite being paid about ₦14 billion by the Federal Government.
Umahi issued the directive on Friday during an inspection of the expressway, where he expressed anger over the poor state of the road and the contractor’s failure to deliver.
According to the minister, the government had reached an agreement with Hartland to use the funds to complete the 11km stretch from Summit Junction to a bridge, including channelisation and hydraulic structures. However, the contractor had only executed about 40 per cent of the agreed work.
He directed the ministry’s controller to track down and arrest the company’s MD, and ordered officials to pull up records of all payments and certificates issued to the contractor across its projects.
“We paid them up to N14bn and when I paid them that money, we reached an agreement that we were going to finish 11 kilometres from the Summit Junction to this bridge with the money I am paying you, and then do channelisation and hydraulic structures,” Umahi said.
“But today, they have just done about 40 per cent of the agreement. So, I recalled the MD to discuss with him for them to come back to site. I am going to look for him to arrest him.”
The minister said the ministry would move to recover the funds paid to Hartland should the company fail to meet its contractual obligations. He directed relevant directors to immediately write to the banks involved to recover the money, and ordered a full review of the contractor’s certificates and payment history.
“I want the directors to call up the MPG immediately. You have to write to the banks to pay us that money. We are going to sanction Hartland. This is not acceptable,” he said.
Umahi also ordered officials to inspect both bridges on the affected section and assess about a kilometre of road to determine urgent measures needed to ease traffic congestion for motorists.
He blamed the contractor’s negligence for the worsening condition of parts of the expressway, noting that minor interventions could have significantly reduced the hardship faced by road users.
“If a project is going on, whether there is payment or not, you cannot allow the situation of the road to be like this. It is your responsibility to at least insist for stone base to be used to fill these places,” he said. “I don’t want to see this kind of embarrassment again. Places where even N20,000, N50,000 or N100,000 can fix should not be allowed to worsen the suffering of the people.”
Umahi further directed the immediate arrest of anyone found carrying out unauthorised dredging activities along roads under the ministry’s supervision.
“If you see anybody that is doing dredging, I don’t want to know who the person is. You have to cause an arrest immediately. When you see a contractor that is on the road and a section is not passable, you do an arrest,” he added.
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