FG Assures Housing Contractors Of Payment, Demands Results

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Shuaib Belgore, has assured contractors of payments and charged them for results and evidence of seriousness to justify their payments.

“The Ministry is moving things along. Much more needs to be done. We need to see results and evidence of seriousness. The Director of Finance is here with me on this inspection to make your payment easier. No sluggish work,” he told the contractors.

Belgore spoke in Lokoja, Kogi State, during his inspection tour of the new federal Secretariat project site, the Lokoja national housing estate and the Ministry’s field office in Lokoja.

He charged the contractors to show significant progress on site and exceed their advance payment collection before asking for valuation, saying the ministry is committed to making a huge impact in the realisation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Housing Agenda.

The Permanent Secretary urged the contractors to work faster, saying that the initial challenge of structural adjustment of some areas in the drawing should not be a hindrance to the entire work on the site.

He also advised them to create channels to drain the water that flooded some areas on the site.

Earlier, Mr Bode Omoyeni, the Chairman of Steadylane Nigeria Ltd, the company handling the Lokoja Federal Secretariat Project, had informed about their challenges, which included fluctuation, topography, groundwater, and poor soil texture, which led to the redesigning of the substructure.

“I want to assure the ministry, we want to deliver a quality job despite the initial challenges, and our discussion with the consultant and the ministry has already addressed the concerns we raised,” Omoyeni stated.

The Director of Public Building and Housing Development, Pemi Temitope, had earlier told the Permanent Secretary that the contract for the construction of the new Federal Secretariat in Lokoja, Kogi State, was awarded in 2023, and the actual advance payment to the contractor was made in September 2024 to enable them to move to the site.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary commended the staff of the Ministry’s field office in Lokoja for their hard work and for keeping a clean office environment, assuring the maintenance of their offices, including addressing their water challenges.