Consequences And Evaluation Of The Involvement Of Foreign Companies In Road Constriction
[A CASE STUDY OF KWARA STATE.]

5. Favoritism and Ethnicity
One of the problems also facing the local contractors in road construction industries in Nigeria is the use of favoritism and ethnicity in the award of contract by the authorities concerned.
In a situation whereby two companies tender for a contract, just because the owner of the first company comes from the same village as the person in authority, he will use that connection as the bases of awarding the contract to the company without bothering to find out if the company is competent enough to execute the contact effectively.
5. Bribery and Corruption
This is a “cankerous warm” which has eaten deep into every facet of Nigeria economy, not even sparing the road construction industries.
In a situation whereby before you are awarded a contract, you have to pay a mandatory 10% of the worth of the contract to the person or people concerned with the award of the contract.
In a situation whereby one has spent a lot of money before given a contract, there is every tendency that when the contract has been kindly awarded, the first step the contractor will take is first to recover the money used in paying the 10% demand and this may result into improper execution of the contract.
In fact, it has now gotten to a stage in which only the highest bidder in Nigeria is given a contract.
7. Cash Flow Bottlenecks
One of the major problems faced by the local contractors is cash flow crisis, in a situation where after the payment of the first and second quarters of the part of contract fees, there can be a stop in the funding of the project by the client, this results in the contractors holding all works done and abandoning the site.
2.5     FACTORS AFFECTING FOREIGN COMPANIES ON ROAD         NETWORK IN KWARA STATE
i.     Ignorance or Customs of the Local Communities
In the Niger/Delta region, the local communities do not usually welcome these foreign companies; they are usually hostile to them. This became evident as a result of democracy during the military regime compensation was given to elders in areas so the youths could not really express their mind all because of the military. Now as a result of democratic dispensation the youths cease their equipment and instrument used in the construction site until certain compensations are made, they even go to the extent of kidnapping these expatriate. These foreign companies put these factors into considerations when biding for jobs and this usually cost the government a lot of money.
ii.     Topographical Factor
Most of these foreign companies involved in road construction spend a lot in transporting materials like (chippings) which is available in the north. If a road is to be constructed in the eastern part of the country, it will be more expensive than that of the northern part because chippings are easily available in the Northern part and it will cost a lot of money for it to be transported to the Eastern part. The Eastern parts have also been highly affected by gully erosion.
iii.     Political Factor
The government of the day goes a long way in determining which company will construct road, despite the fact that most of these companies have state of the act equipment, for example the government will always give big jobs to Julius Berger all because of their equipment not always considering the fact that some of these jobs can also be handled by other foreign companies or local contractors.