Rep Cautions On N223b Road Construction Refunds To Ogun

The Labour Party (LP) has cautioned to members of the House of Representatives to stop the planned issuance of N223 billion to the Ogun State government in respect of the alleged construction and rehabilitation of federal roads in the state.

The party said Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s claims to the construction of Sango-Ijoko-Ojodu-Abiodun-Akute road; Agbara-Atan, Lusada-Igbesa, Lusada-Alapoti; Lafenwa-Ayetoro road; Papalanto-Ilaro-Federal Polytechnic road; and OGTV-Brewery-Ibadan road was not only false but an attempt to fraudulently obtain the money from the Federal Government.

In a petition to the Speaker of the Lower Chambers, jointly signed by comrades Arabambi Abayomi and Oginni Olaposi, state chairman and secretary respectively, a copy of which was obtained by The Guardian yesterday, the party accused the governor of cashing in on his closeness to the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and the immunity clause to access the funds.

The House committees on works and finance headed by Toby Okechukwu and Babangida Ibrahim Mahuta had earlier disclosed that the Federal Government owes 16 states-Ogun, Zamfara, Anambra, Oyo, Enugu, Cross River, Ebonyi, Plateau, Sokoto, Kwara, Ekiti, Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Gombe and Bauchi states the sum of N580.5b for various rehabilitation works carried out on some federal roads in their domains.

The public hearing by the committee was meant to ascertain claims by the states for monies spent on the rehabilitation of federal roads for which Ogun topped the list with the sum of N223 billion while Akwa Ibom followed with N76 billion.

It was gathered that Amosun had urged the committee to do everything possible to ensure that the Federal Government settled the outstanding amount, hence the alarm being raised the LP.

“We state without any fear of contradiction that the OGTV-Ibadan road and Papalanto-Federal Polytechnic road, were never constructed or rehabilitated, while the rest were awarded in 2012 but were abandoned by the Ogun State ghost contractors since then.

“We, therefore, urge your good office to investigate these claims of refund by Amosun and also send your committee for on the spot assessment with members of the civil right groups, professional bodies and opposition political parties in the state before the claims can be verified for payment, the petition stated.