The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says he will get all contractors back to the site under his direct supervision and that of the office of the Minister of State.

“I am determined to get every contractor back to site with direct supervision from my office and the office of the Minister of State,” said Mr Wike.

The minister, who stated this at the opening of a meeting with contractors handling different projects in the FCT, added that Abuja would soon become a construction site as promised.

“First of all, on the metro light train, President Bola Tinubu has given us a matching order that he wants to ride on the metro light train. So, it is a key project that we must achieve,” he said.

Mr Wike added that Mr Tinubu had equally complained about abandoned projects, particularly roads part of critical infrastructure.

Describing road networks as key infrastructure that makes a city, the minister pointed out that the issue of sanitation, streetlights and shanties were being addressed.

“The major problem we are having in this country is the problem of supervision, so we are not going to tolerate anything below standard.

“If there are people you have been working with that have compromised standards, too bad, too bad; not with me. I am not going to accept anything that is below standard,” he said.

The minister said that together with the contractors, they would restructure how to fund projects so that all contractors could go back to site and work.

He added that the ministry would not fund projects depending only on the national budget, adding that projects would also be financed with resources from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“I want to achieve results, so I will not award a contract when I do not have money to fund it.

“We are going to fund you, and you will tell us the time within which the project will be completed. If we agreed on three months, it is three months; If I give six months, it is six months.

“We do not want to hear this happened, and this did not happen. I do not want to hear any excuses at all,” Mr Wike told the contractors.

He assured the commencement of all abandoned projects in all sections of the FCT, stressing that the measure would create employment.

The minister noted that when contractors work, they create more employment but sack staff when they are not working, thereby creating problems for the country.

(NAN)