The House of Representatives on Friday in Abuja queried the non-payment of N2.2 billion debt owed contractors from 2010 till date by the Maritime Academy Oron.
Rep. Muhammed Bago, the Chairman, House Committee on Maritime, expressed dismay over the delay in paying contractors, though funds were released to the agency by the Federal Government.
Bago spoke when the Acting Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron, Mkpandiok Mkpandiok, appeared before members of the committee to give details of the 2016 budget performance.
The chairman also queried the discrepancies in the income and expenditure report submitted by the management of the academy.
According to him, there is the need for the academy to go back and put their records correctly as there are obvious discrepancies in the reports of income and expenditure submitted.
Bago observed that the management failed to account for N300,000 expenditure in the day to day running of the academy, between July and August 2016.
He said: “More so, why has the academy failed to pay N2.2 billion owed to contractors when its report shows that there is about N3 billion available in its coffers to pay the contractors?
“The inability of the academy to pay the contractors even when the contractors have certificates indicating that jobs were completed is sheer wickedness.
“I wonder why you have decided to hold back their money for contracts executed since 2010.”
Mkpandiok said the agency would soon begin to pay contractors after verifying their claims.
The rector said that the delay was due to the management’s efforts to settle down to verify contractors’ claims after the previous administration ended abruptly in July 2016 due to the demise of the rector.
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