- Projects Remain Unexecuted After Payment To Contractors
CONTROVERSIES have surrounded the abandonment of four different projects in Ejigbo, Ede-North, Egbedore and Ife Central local governments of Osun State.
The projects, which included road rehabilitation, provision of motorized borehole, erosion control and construction of civic centre which were captured in the 2022 and 2023 budget of the Federal Government, have remained unexecuted, months after payments were made for some.
A report by Tracka, a project of a nongovernmental organisation, Budgit, indicated that the projects were approved and funded by former President Buhari’s administration.
According to Tracka, a sum of N413.6m was paid to First Broad International Ltd for the rehabilitation of Awo internal roads in Egbedore local government.
But the project has not been executed as of the time of filing this report.
OSUN DEFENDER learnt that a sum of N4.3m was earmarked for the provision of motorised borehole at Ejigbo town.
However, the report by Tracka revealed that the project has not been done, just as it called on Niger Delta RBDA, the implementing agency of the project, to provide the public with report of the project and facilitate its execution.
Tracka also claimed that a sum of N30m was allocated for the construction of a Community Civil Centre in Ara, Egbedore local government of Osun state, but the project has not been executed.
The project was reportedly handled by Cocoa Research Institute Ibadan, according to Tracka.
The sum of N30m was budgeted for Erosion Control at Modupeolu Avenue, Olorunsogo Community, Oke-Awere, Owode-Ede.
As of the time of filing this report, nothing has been done on the project.
Tracka challenged the Federal Ministry of Environment to provide the public with details of the project and facilitate its execution without delay.
Awo, Ara, Ejigbo and Owode-Ede are in Ede North/Ede South/Egbedore/Ejigbo Federal Constituency with Hon. Bamidele Salam as representative.
In Ile-Ife, a sum of N4.1m was allocated for the rehabilitation of Itayemoo Foundary Museum in the 2023 federal government budget.
Just like others mentioned, the project was yet to be executed by the contractor, Nigerian Museums.
However, the abandoned projects have been generating controversies on social media in the state.
The Spokesperson of a civil society organisation, Transparency and Accountability Group (TAG), Comrade Ayo Ologun, had taken to his facebook account to challenge Salam to provide details of the project fund.
Ologun submitted that it’s time to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of Works, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies to the projects.
He wrote: “Reports indicate that in October 2022, the sum of N413.6m was paid to First Broad International Ltd for the Rehabilitation of Awo Internal Road in Egbedore, Osun State.
“This road is in Ede North/Ede South, Egbedore and Ejigbo federal constituency been represented by Hon. Bamidele Salam.
“Available report shows that this project has not been done. The question now is, where is the over 400 million naira paid on this job.
“Time to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of works, ICPC, EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies.”
However, in a swift response as a comment on Ologun’s post, Salam challenged the activists to submit a petition to the mentioned agencies in furtherance of his interest in the matter.
The lawmaker wrote: “Let Ologun Ayodeji submit a petition to the mentioned agencies in furtherance to his interest in this matter. That will be a better, sensible and more credible way to answer your question.
“You have taken on the wrong guy with this strategy of yours. That last paragraph has all that you need to answer your questions. So please you and him should just approach the Federal ministry of works, ICPC and EFCC as he suggested. I only hope you guys will be honourable enough to come back here to report your “findings.
“Ayo, this man called Bamidele is beyond your extortionist tricks and I am very sure you should know. Those you blackmailed and got money from probably had skeletons in their cupboard. Me, I dey kampe for you and your likes, walahi.”
Effort to get a direct reaction from Salam proved abortive as he did not answer his phone number, nor reply the messages sent to him.
Meanwhile, during the 2023 International Anti-Corruption day in Osun on December 8, the Osun State Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner, Mr. Demola Bakare, said the Phase 5 of the commission’s tracking initiative carried out focused on Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP).
Bakare noted that of the 703 projects tracked nationally, South-West had 115 (amounting to N30.9bn).
He disclosed that in Osun State, the commission tracked 28 of the projects worth N851,613,219.48.
The commissioner said five contractors and 18 companies were asked to return to sites for projects valued at N403,895,416.39.
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
