OSBC Osun State Broadcasting Corporation
The Rivers State Government has threatened to arrest and prosecute the contractor handling the abandoned water project in Odioku community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of the state.
The Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Dr Tamunosis Gogo-Jaja, issued the threat during an unscheduled visit to the site on Tuesday.
Gogo-Jaja said all contractual agreements had been breached by the contractor, who, he said, hails from the community.
Gogo-Jaja said, “For a contractor to collect from government 90 per cent of the total contract sum, what we have with us is just retention fee, there is no reason to abandon this project.
“I assure the people of Odioku that we will ensure that the contractor who abandoned this site will be prosecuted.
“The Chief Executive Officer of the company that is handling this job is from this community. If you can’t do this for your community, that is to say you can’t do it for any community.”
Meanwhile, some of the labourers who came to the site, on sighting officials of government, alleged that they had yet to be paid by the contractor, calling for his arrest.