BY AGNES NWORIE, ABAKALIKI
The Ebonyi State Government has
has stressed the need to put the records straight on facts about the missing engineers in the state in order to avoid misrepresentations.
The five engineers, working with Nelan company on the Effium Ohaukwu LGA axis of the Ring Road, were abducted by unknown gunmen, and efforts by security agents and the state government to bail them out of their abductors proved abortive.
Governor David Umahi, while addressing journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital, expressed condolences to the families of the missing engineers.
The governor said, “It has become imperative to put the record straight on the allegations and misrepresentation of facts conveyed to the public from certain quarters over the unfortunate incident that befell Engr. Nelson Onyeme of Nelan Consulting firm and other four engineers whose services we suppose, were hired by Nelan Company to work on the phase two of the African Development Bank sponsored section of Abakaliki Ring Road project as they are not on the list of employees submitted to the Ebonyi State Government by Nelan Consultants.
“Based on the Police investigation on the incident, we view as disheartening the unfortunate circumstances that led to the sad news. We, therefore, extend our heartfelt condolences to all the families and the Nelan Company for this dastardly act by criminal elements while hoping for a comprehensive crackdown on the perpetrators.
“We are constrained to correct certain impressions contained in the information dished out to the public by Nelson Onyeme as we know that she spoke out of emotions and we believe that some politicians have also taken advantage of her state of mind, otherwise, there were things that she said against the state government that were unnecessarily misleading.
“We are compelled to set the records straight on the utterances of one of the Engineers of Nelan Company, Mr. Benjamin who speaks from both sides of the mouth (telling the state government one thing and telling the public another thing), and who is extremely economical with the truth about our contractual relations with Nelan Company.
“Contrary to the insinuations contained in the interview granted with Arise TV by Engr. Benjamin Nzeagwu on the status of the Ring Road project vis-a-vis Nelan Consulting firm, Abakaliki Ring Road is a project of the Ebonyi State Government funded through a repayable loan from the African Development Bank and not a grant and so, the services of Nelan Consulting Firm were hired by the Ebonyi State Government through international bidding processes.
“As the employer, we are aware that during the tenders, Nelan Consulting Firm offered the lowest cost and we insisted that because of paucity of funds, the company should be allowed, as the lowest bidder, to do the job bearing in mind that the company is not the original designer but was drafted to review the design and supervise the job.
“It is noteworthy to mention that there are two sections of this job, one of which is handled diligently by another consulting firm and they have never raised any issues of interferences or altercations, so the utterances of Mr. Benjamin are deliberately sensational and malicious, and mischievously calculated to attack the integrity of the state government. Where it is not utterly factual, it is obviously fictitious, Ebonyi State Government as an employer does not need extraneous assistance to determine the contract when it is not performing and our government cannot be blackmailed to give up its monitoring powers as that has been the secret of the fiscal performance and developmental hallmarks recorded by our administration.
“For the records, Ebonyi State Government and the personnel executing the contract job were never contacted or informed about the coming of the officials of Nelan Consulting Firm on the fateful day. The state government had a meeting with all companies/ contractors involved in the Abakaliki Ring Road Project over the security situation in a few points within the project locations.
“Nelan Consulting firm is merely a supervising firm whose job supervision commitment was going to be eight days per month in the whole of 24 months project duration. The resident engineer and main contractor being supervised by Nelan Consulting firm has never shown presence till this moment. All we gathered from security report after the ugly incident was that it was the contractor, Marco Nigeria Limited that had contacted Mr. Nelson Onyeme to go to site.
“The immediate report from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area where the job is situated and the statement volunteered to the Police by the representative of Marco Nigeria Limited indicate that they all agreed to meet at Ohaukwu Local Government Police Headquarters so as to get the Police personnel to go with them to the site. But, the Nelan officials did not avail.”
