The Delta Commissioner for Works, Chief Funkekeme Solomon, has withheld approval of payment for job done at the Asaba airport until after an inspection of the project.

Similarly, his counterpart in Basic and Secondary Education Ministry, Prof. Patrick Muobaghare, has said that the ministry will not pay for any project awarded by it unless approved by officials involved in the contract.

In separate interviews with the Newsmen in Asaba, both commissioners insisted that they must undertake an inspection of projects under their respective ministries before deciding on whether to pay or not.

Solomon said: “Imagine, somebody just brought what he called a warrant for payment of part of the airport contract sum and wanted to lure me into signing it without furnishing me with details of the job.

“Of course, I turned it down and asked the fellow to go away with the warrant. I also insisted on seeing the job and the file.

“One other contractor even called me on telephone querying why I refused to sign his warrant but I stressed that I must inspect every project before approving payment.”

The commissioner, who is barely two months old at the ministry, said he had observed that the state government paid for some shoddy jobs in the past through the manipulations of contractors and declared that “that was before, it cannot happen again.’’

According to him, gone are the days when contractors are paid for jobs not properly done or not done at all.

“This time, contractors who are not serious will not be paid and will be blacklisted.”

Solomon said that the ministry had set the machinery for due process in all its contractual dealings and warned that any official of the ministry found compromising government regulations would be sanctioned.

On his part, Muobaghare particularly frowned at an examination hall project at Illah Grammar School in Oshimili North council area and said that the government would not pay the contractor.

“I understand that a former member of the House of Assembly handled the job but the truth is that it is a very shoddy job and we will not pay for it,” he said.

He said that schools in the state were littered with uncompleted and badly completed jobs, which the contractors had been paid for and declared that he was going to wage a “moral war” against unscrupulous contractors.

The commissioner warned that he would hold any official of the ministry responsible for any job the state government would pay for in error, saying: “I say this because we know that civil servants connive in contract processes”.

According to him, any job awarded by the Ministry of Education will not be paid for unless a letter is received from principals and Chief Inspectors of Education (CIEs) in any school or area where the project is sited.

“Anyway, even with the letter from our officials confirming the job as having been completed and well done, I will still go and see it before we will approve payment.”