OKAY, E DON HAPPEN NOW : Gov. Okorocha revokes contract of contractor who claimed to have given him N24 million bribe

The Imo state government has now officially revoked the N1.3 billion contract awarded to Noutouch Global Ventures Limited for the construction of a seven-floor Modern State Judiciary Headquarters.

In a statement issued on Saturday, June 22, 2013,  in Owerri, capital of Imo State, the state government said it was forced to take the action because the commissioner for Lands, Survey, Housing and Urban Development, Uche Nwosu, was dissatisfied with the performance of the contractor who allegedly abandoned the job after collecting N224 million as mobilization.

Only last week, Gov. Okorocha visited the site and expressed displeasure that the building which was billed to be delivered in April 2013 was still at its foundation level even though the contractor had been mobilised. But in a swift reaction, the managing director of Noutouch Global Ventures, Dr. Osita Okereke, blamed the state government for the delay in the execution of the project, stating that the government had agreed to pay 40 percent upfront as stipulated in the contract agreement, but the governor did not comply with that, instead, he paid 15 percent totalling about N168 million. This is different from the N224 million figure which the government claims to have paid.

Furthermore, Okereke alleged that Gov. Okorocha had demanded and received a gratification of N24 million out of the N168 million which the government paid.

“After all this, it will be callous and inhuman for the governor to visit the site and threaten to revoke the contract even when he’s aware that the state government has not paid the company what is due to them.

“This is not the first time Governor Okorocha is playing such pranks on my company. At the moment, the state government owes my company the sum of N742 million as balance for some other projects we are handling for the government such as the new governor’s lodge, street solar electrification of Owerri-Orlu, architectural design and surveying of Imo-European University,” said the contractor.

Now, following the outburst by Okereke, the government has revoked the contract, emphasising that Okereke’s firm abandoned the site. The government statement also warned that it was considering sueing the company for alleged breach of contract.