FG adopts ‘work before payment’ as cleanup begins in Ogoniland next Wednesday
To make sure that the exercise is done within the confines of best technology and time, the Federal Government has announced new contract payment system known as ‘Work Before Payment Model’ in the resumption of cleanup activities by selected contractors on spilled sites across Ogoniland in River State.
This means that there will be no form of mobilization before resumption of work, rather payments are made according grounds covered by each contractor.
Giving details of the terms of the contract to the contractors in Abuja, the Project Management Consultant, Eric Onyeiwu, said “The payment will be in three instalments: The first 40 per cent will be paid after 40 per cent of the work is done and the second 40 per cent will be paid when the work gets to 80 per cent and the balance of 20 per cent will be paid after 100 per cent completion.”
He added that following the adoption of the payment model, the terms of payment had been concluded in a way that the contractors would not experience difficulty, adding that advance payment of 15 per cent would be given to commence the work.
According to him, the system was adopted to make sure that serious jobs are done and that contractors will not display any form of delays while executing the entire cleanup process.
Continuing, Onyeiwu cautioned the contractors who passed through rigorous screening before being selected amongst numerous others for the cleanup process and mandated them to deliver good quality work as government would not entertain cases of undocumented claims.
While warning that the Federal Government would not welcome any form of extension unless where necessary, the project Manager reminded the contractors that the work was time bound.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Minister of Environment, Suleiman Hassan, insisted that the contractors were qualified to carry out the remediation process after meeting the mandatory requirement of being registered with the Cooperate Affairs Commission and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, among others.
While criticising several media reports showing that the way and manner in selecting the contractors remain questionable, Hassan noted that all relevant due processes were followed in picking the contractors.
