3rd July, 2019
Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has revealed that the immediate past administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi awarded the Moniya-Iseyin Road for N7 billion to a contractor with untraceable office address.
Makinde lamented that the sum of N2 billion out of the total contract sum had been paid to the contractor he described as ‘faceless’, stressing that his assessment of the job done so far on the site would barely pass for N150 million.
He said his effort at locating the site address of the contractor to interact with him on the level of work done despite the amount of money released, revealed that the given office address was not only untraceable but the name also faceless.
Makinde, who revealed this while on a tour of the road leading to the Pacesetter Quarry and Asphalt plant, located at Km 25, Moniya-Iseyin Road, Ojedeji Village, Akinyele Local Government for an assessment of the plant could not hide his disappointment over the shady way the last administration awarded the contract.
He lamented that the road which serves as the economic route for farm and agricultural produce into the state could be abandoned after the contractor collected N2 billion, with little or nothing to show for it on the project site.
The governor stated, “And you saw the road that we took to this place, the road is just not in a good state even if it is for us to get this functional, we can patch this road to support the Ibadan-Moniya-Iseyin road because it is a major road linking Ibadan with our production centres of Oke Ogun as the food basket of the state and the country. My impression of the work done so far if I will have to evaluate and cost it, it couldn’t have been more than N150 million that I will spend on it. It was a faceless contractor and we don’t even know where their offices are located. I could have stopped by to go discuss with them but there is nowhere to stop by”.
While speaking on the state-owned Pace Setter Quarry and Asphalt Plant which has been abandoned in the past eight years, Makinde expressed disappointment that the project that could have fetched the state some revenue was left unattended due to political difference.
The Asphalt plant was established during the tenure of Senator Rashidi Ladoja but could not attract any partner under the proposed Public-Private Partnership agreement.
He vowed to revive the company, stressing that plans were already being made to revive the plant.
According to him, the economic benefits of the company was huge, pointing out that if the company started working, it would generate income for the State, provide jobs as well as complementing the state government’s effort to provide good road network across the state.