Edo govt, Obaseki disagree over committee’s alleged project inflation

The Edo State Assets Verification Committee, set up by the State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, yesterday, raised the alarm over a road project sum allegedly inflated from N8 billion to N16 billion by the immediate past government.

The contract sum for the 17.5-kilometre road project was inflated three times within a year, according to the Edo State Assets Verification Committee.

Reacting, Crusoe Osagie, the Media Adviser to former Governor, Godwin Obaseki, said: “As we have repeatedly pointed out, Okpebholo’s real challenge lies in his lack of capacity and unpreparedness for office.”

Osagie urged the governor to settle down, build capacity, and focus on working for the people of Edo State during the short time he will spend at Dennis Osadebey Avenue, rather than resorting to unintelligent lies to score cheap political points.

The subcommittee on Physical Assets and Infrastructure of the committee said it discovered this during an inspection of the reconstruction of the Benin-Abraka Road Phase 1C.

The project manager of the construction firm, Ifiok Kong, who spoke to members of the committee, said the company was mobilised with the sum of N2.9 billion, representing 25 per cent of the contract sum of N8 billion.

Kong said after the mobilisation, the contract sum was varied, and some amount was added to the initial cost of the project.

He added that the completion period of the job, which was initially three and a half years, was, however, reviewed downward to 18 months. The project manager said the contract sum was initially N8 billion when it was awarded in September 2023, but was reviewed upward to N12 billion in 2024 and later to the current sum of N16.4 billion in June 2024.

Speaking on the revelation, a member of the subcommittee, Abass Braimah, who frowned on the development, said the increment was 100 per cent.

“I don’t think there is anywhere in Nigeria or outside of this sub-national that a project can be awarded for N8 billion, reviewed to N12 billion, and further reviewed to N16 billion.

“Why not just review it and take the entire purse of Edo State if we can review from N8 billion to upward of between N12 billion and N16 billion in one year?

“What has substantially changed for you to have a 100 per cent increment from N8 billion to N16 billion? Meanwhile, the job specification or contents have not changed. It is still the same thing.”