Reps Ad-hoc Committee makes a visit to Ibadan to conduct an investigation into alleged contract inflation

The project site was inspected on Thursday by the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee, which is looking into the alleged poor progress of the Ijebu-Igbo Ibadan Road project and the emerging information about the inflation of the contract value from N9.8 billion to N54 billion.

The parliamentarians visited the project site to inspect it under the leadership of Hon. Kwamoti Bitrus Laori, head of the ad hoc committee.

Recall that on September 7, 2023, a member of the House of Representatives representing Oyo State’s Oluyole Federal Constituency, Hon. Tolulope Akande Sadipe, was accused of conspiring with some Federal Ministry of Works officials to renegotiate an ongoing project’s original contract amount from N9.8 billion to N54 billion and award it to a different contractor.

The management of DC Engineering Ltd, which is in charge of the project, claimed that despite its request for the Ministry of Works officials to review the project upward to at least N14 billion, they disregarded it and instead decided to award the contract to another company, Areatech Construction Ltd, for N54 billion.

Hon. Sadipe refuted the charge. However, the Federal Ministry of Works’ Director for Highways in the South West, Engr. Adedamola Kuti, informed the committee that the contract with DC Engineering Ltd had been cancelled as of September 2022 and had been granted to two new businesses. However, Kuti refused to comment on the reasons the 41 kilometre road contract was increased from N9.8 billion to N54 billion.

The project was awarded in 2018 and was scheduled to be finished in 2020, but it took the Federal Ministry of Works five years—from 2018 to 2023—before paying 15% mobilisation fees of N1.3 billion to DC Engineering Ltd. Many stakeholders blamed this delay on the project’s sluggish progress.

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which had previously granted Areatech Construction Ltd a Certificate of No Objection, has recently revoked it because the original contractor is still present on the job site. BPP justified its course of action by arguing that no project may be awarded to a different company without first terminating the original contract.

But according to a letter from BPP dated May 10, 2023 and delivered to the Solicitor of DC Engineering Ltd, Areatech Construction Ltd’s certificate of no objection has been revoked.

The community leaders/members and representatives of DC Engineering Ltd were given assurances by the committee’s chairman, kwamoti Bitrus Laori, that the lawmakers’ visit to the Ijebu-Igbo Ibadan Road project site in Oyo State on Thursday was for an evaluation and to ensure that everything was settled amicably in preparation for the project’s completion.

During the oversight visit, the MPs took a tour of the whole 41 kilometre road project’s service area. They include, among others, Iyana Shehu, Ile-Epo Inukan, Ile-Epo Lucas Station, Olunde Junction, Fatusi Bridge, Arogo, Aiyegun Market, and Lanfa Bridge.

During the MPs’ visit to the site, a few representatives of the Federal Ministry of Works and senior staff from DC Engineering Ltd, including Head of Logistics, Mr. Emmanuel, Site/Project Engineer, Engr Isaac, and several other employees, were also present.

Road construction equipment from DC Engineering was also visible everywhere we went.

During the legislators’ visit on Thursday, Hon. Asuwaju Folawuyo Bello (Commissioner Oyo State), a representative of the Public Complaint Commission, was also on hand.

Bello attributed the state of Nigeria’s roads to the actions of Ministry of Works staff during the investigation panel’s hearing on September 7, 2023.

The Federal Ministry of Works has taken five years to pay only 15% of the contract amount for a project that is scheduled to be finished in 24 months (two years), according to Bello, who claimed to have received numerous complaints about the project.