Osun APC In Rumbles As Oyetola, Aregbosola’s Men Fight Dirty Over N48 Billion

Advertisement

Osun state government has debunked claims that it received N48 billion from the federal government for road projects constructed by the immediate past administration under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

A commissioner under Ogbeni Aregbesola, Mr Sikiru Ayedun had during a factional meeting of All Progressives Congress, APC, held at Oranmiyan House, said the state had received a refund of N48 billion in three tranches from the federal government for roads constructed by Aregbesola’s led administration.

Ayedun, had in a video on social media said, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had deliberately kept quiet over the refund to set the masses against the Minister of Interior.

Ayedun who speaks in the Yoruba language in the video said, “the Oyetola led administration has received the sum of N48 billion refund from the federal government for roads constructed by Aregbesola, but they did not disclose it. They kept talking about salary. The refund was collected in three tranches, did you hear it from the state radio? They would not disclose it. The last tranch was N4.8 billion when Rivers State was given N78 billion”.

However, a statement issued by the Commissioner for Finance, Bola Oyebamiji on Saturday to debunk the statement, stated that the total refund the state got from the FG was N11.9 billion.

While describing Ayedun’s statement as misleading and capable of creating disharmony within the progressive family, he said the total contract sum is N38b, wondering how the FG would make a refund that was far above the contract sum.

The statement reads: “The total contract sum of all the federal road projects embarked upon by the Osun State Government, as approved by the Federal Ministry of Works, is N38 billion. It, therefore, stands logic on its head to claim that the sum of N48bn will be paid by the FG for projects whose total contract sum equals N38bn. The last time we checked, the federal government is not a Father Christmas.

“The projects in question, as of November 2018, on the average, was less than 35% completion. Available records show that the Osun State Government awarded the 29km Gbongan – Akoda dualization project in 2013 for N29bn while the 40km Osogbo – Ikirun – Ila Odo Kwara boundary was awarded for N17.5bn in the same year, making both projects to amount to N46.5bn as proposed by Osun State Government.

“However, after due diligence and thorough assessment by the FG Public Procurement Agency, the contract sum was reviewed downward thus: Gbongan – Akoda road at N23bn, and Osogbo – Ila Odo road at N15bn respectively to carry the approved award contract sum of N38bn for all the ongoing FG roads under construction. This review was duly communicated to the Osun State Government.

“As at November 2018, the contractor handling Gbongan – Akoda road project had received a total sum of N10.2bn, out of which 3.5km of the 29km stretched road has been completed including the Gbongan Interchange and the project was at 29% completion, while the contractor handling the Osogbo – Ila Odo road collected a total sum of N9.2bn, with 49% completion rate.

“The implication is that the Osun State Government had paid both contractors the sum of N19.4bn as at November 2018. Similarly, the total refund by the FG to the state as at today, in three tranches, stood at N11.9bn based on the project delivered by both contractors.

“It is imperative to state that the FG refund of N11.9bn has been judiciously utilized and ploughed back into four (4) inherited road projects embarked upon by the previous administration contrary to the unsubstantiated claims by Mr. Ayedun that the refund is being used to pay full salaries to civil servants in the state.

“As at today, Gbongan – Akoda road project is at 36% completion stage, with 8.6km asphalted on both sides of the road. Also, the Osogbo – Ila-Odo project which was 49% in November 2018 is now at 55% completion. Oba Adesoji Aderemi road which was equally inherited at 65% completion is at 74% now and Ilesa – Iperindo – Ipetu Ijesa road project rose from 40% to 66% completion stage.

“It is also instructive to note that since the advent of Oyetola administration, an additional 60km of road had been reconstructed and fully completed, with another 10 township roads presently under construction. These are expected to be completed before the end of 2021, including the Iconic Olaiya flyover.”

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Works and Transportation, Mr Omowaye Oluremi, while debunking the N48 billion comment, said the state government received a N13 billion refund contrary to the claim of the Commissioner for Finance’s claim of N11.9 billion

Advertisement

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *