Benue lawmakers express satisfaction with quality of work on BENGIS

The Benue State House of Assembly Standing Committee on Lands, Survey and Solid Minerals has expressed satisfaction with the quality and speed of work on the Benue Geographic Information Service, BENGIS building project, under construction at the State Ministry of Lands Survey and Solid Minerals Headquarters, Makurdi.

Chairman of the Committee, Architect Bunde Yongu made this known when he led other members of the committee to the Ministry on Tuesday for an oversight function.

The member representing Buruku State Constituency said the work done so far was commensurate with the funds released, pointing out some challenges like Covid-19 that halted the project at a point, but appreciated the speed of work at the moment.

While stressing the relevance of the BENGIS project, the Committee Chairman urged the contractor to intensify efforts to hit the deadline and to sustain the quality of work according to specifications.

He commended Governor Samuel Ortom for embarking on the project and expressed confidence in the ability of the Commissioner in charge of the Ministry, Hon. Bernard Unenge to execute it.

Arc. Bunde Yongu assured of the Assembly’s support for the success of the project and commended Hon. Unenge for doing a great job.

Also speaking, members of the House Committee, Hon. Abu Umoru and Terwase Aondoakaa while speaking separately tasked Land contractors to be fair in giving land allocations in order to include low income earners not only family members and political associates.

Reiterating the importance of BENGIS, Hon. Bernard Unenge said when completed, it will generate over N1b naira on yearly basis for the development of Benue state.

He expressed joy that Governor Ortom had taken up the challenge of paucity of funds and the project would be completed within the timeline which is June 2022, adding that 75% of the work had been done already.

Hon. Unenge explained that the N6.5 Billion earmarked for the BENGIS project was not only for construction work at the Headquarters but also for the building and equipment of three service points at Gboko, Otukpo and Adikpo. According to him, other aspects of the project include staff training, digital area mapping capturing the entire state as well as State’s Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme assisted by the World Bank for collection of data on buildings and other infrastructures in the state towards attracting 2.5 Million dollars grant for critical infrastructural development for states that meet the requirements.

The Commissioner conducted the House Committee Chairman and his members round the BENGIS project to assess the level and quality of the work done so far.

By Amos Aar