The Benue State House of Assembly has summoned Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Limited, the contractor handling the upgrading and renovation of sports facilities at Aper Aku Stadium, to appear before it on Wednesday, 2nd April 2025, noting that failure to do so may compel the House to invoke the necessary laws to ensure compliance.
Monimichelle is expected to explain why the State government should not terminate its contract and hand the company over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover funds already disbursed.
Additionally, the House has directed the Ministry of Finance to halt further payments to the contractor.
The Commissioner for Finance and the Commissioner for Youths and Sports are also required to appear alongside the contractor.
The Assembly reached this decision while deliberating on a motion expressing concern over Monimichelle’s abandonment of the project despite receiving N1.3 billion out of the N1.7 billion contract sum.
While moving the motion, the Minority Leader, Michael Audu, informed the House that the Alia administration had awarded the contract for the Stadium’s upgrading and renovation to Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Limited at a cost of N1,757,734,319.56.
Audu explained, “To ensure the quick completion of the project, the State government paid N1.339 billion.
“However, despite the release of these huge sums to the contractor, apart from the upgrade of the dressing rooms and toilets, as well as the repainting of the main bowl, the track, scoreboards, playing turf, and floodlights are yet to be provided.”
He added, “Instead of focusing on the job specifications outlined in the contract agreement, Monimichelle has sent multiple correspondences to the State government, claiming it has incurred additional costs amounting to several hundreds of millions of naira.
“The company is now demanding an additional N300 million to clear synthetic grass from the port before returning to the site.”
Contributing to the debate, the Chief Whip of the House, Peter Ipusu, the Deputy Whip, Cephas Dyako, and the Majority Leader, Saater Tiseer, expressed disappointment over the contractor’s actions.
They accused Monimichelle of holding the state to ransom despite receiving a substantial sum of money.
