The Federal Ministry of Works has been dragged before an Abuja Federal High Court over the propriety of the N209.7m contract for advanced integrity test on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
The ministry contracted an engineering consulting company, Icecon Nigeria Limited, to execute the project but two under-water engineering firms – the Nigerian Submarine Divers Limited and TGP Projects Limited – have jointly asked the court to set aside the contract on the grounds that it did not comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
The Nigerian Submarine Divers Limited and TPG Projects Limited sued the Federal Ministry of Works alongside the contractor, Icecon Nigeria Limited, and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The plaintiffs urged the court to declare that the award of the contract without compliance with the provisions of the PPA was unlawful, invalid, void and unconstitutional.
They also asked the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from releasing any money or logistics or carrying out or continuing to carry out any integrity test whatsoever on the bridge.
In an affidavit in support of their motion on notice, the plaintiffs informed the court that the award of the contract was a waste of taxpayers’ money because they (plaintiffs) had earlier been commissioned to undertake a similar job on the bridge.
According to them, the first plaintiff, Nigerian Submarine Divers Limited, was awarded the contract for underwater inspection of the Eko and Third Mainland bridges in Lagos by the Ministry of Works in 2011.
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