From Kenechukwu Obiajuru, Yenagoa
Contractors handling various state government projects under the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education have lamented unholy and illegal deductions by the Directorate of Finance of the Ministry of Education; deductions which are reportedly unknown to the state government.
Several contractors who spoke with our Salient Time News in Yenagoa, the State Capital decried the development, and called on the Governor of the State, Senator Douye Diri to look into the situation, describing it as worrisome, noting that it is one of the major reasons why abandoned projects are littered all over the state in the Ministry.
The contractors who pleaded anonymity.for fear of being blacklisted, alleged that outside the statutory deductions which are deducted from source, which monies go directly into the State’s treasury, the finance directorate of the Ministry of Education allegedly deducts between 10 to 15% from every contract awarded under the Ministry under the guise of supervision and other logistics, stating that such deductions are made, only at the Education of Ministry in Bayelsa State.
Some of the affected contractors also told our correspondent that they have similar jobs from the State Ministry of Health and other ministries but no additional kobo is deducted from their contract sums except the statutory deductions, and pleaded with the State Governor and other relevant agencies to look into their plight and make the needed reparations.
It was gathered that some angry contractors, in the recent past, even protested to the office of the Commissioner for Finance, Bayelsa State to complain about these alleged illegal deductions by the Finance Department of the Bayelsa State Education Ministry.
It was also gathered that several of such complaints have been forwarded to the office of the Bayelsa State finance commissioner through one of his aide, who is also a staff of the Bayelsa State Treasury
An Ijaw activist who is also handling a project in a community in Southern Ijaw LGA of the State is believed to be one of such countless victims of the finance directorate’s alleged illegal and criminal deductions which is believed to be the reason why many contractors have abandoned their projects.
Another contractor of the Ministry who is also a titled Chief who spoke with Salient Times News also lamented how the Director of Finance of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education expected contractors to complete their jobs when the Ministry allegedly illegally deducts between 10 to 15% from the total value of every contract after the lawful deductions to the State Government such as Tax, Vat, when most of these projects are believed to be grossly under costed on account of the prevailing economic situation and the skyrocketing cost of building materials in the country.
He said: “The development should be urgently looked into by the Governor of the State, Senator Douye Diri to avoid uncompleted and abandoned projects being littered all over the State.
“The Directorate of Finance of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education should be urgently called to order, and should be stopped from their alleged fraudulent acts and extortions.”
The contractors insisted that it does not take anything from the Prosperity Government of Senator Douye Diri to verify these claims by auditing the accounts of the Education Ministry.
“The Government, through the Finance Ministry knows how much it has paid into the Education Ministry’s accounts. All that the State Government needs to do is to cross check how much the Ministry of Education received for the various jobs from the State Treasury, and how much it in turn, paid into the contractors accounts for these projects, and we can assure you that within two weeks time, the ongoing alleged fraudulent activities of the Ministry will be unravelled as most of the contractors who were recently paid mobilisation fees for the construction of Bayelsa State Technical College, Oporoma, Southern Ijaw LGA of the State also suffered the same ill-fate,” the contractor said.
When contacted, the Director in the Dorectorate of Finance, Ministry of Education, Mr Joe Sikpi, told our reporter that the ministry has not received any official complaints from the contractors.
He said: “We have not received such complaints from our contractors, do well to ask such person if he or she has made any official complaint to the ministry.”
