Ogun State Government may be on a collision course with the Federal Government over the award of over N6bn road contracts.
Already, the state government and the Federal Ministry of Works have disagreed over the contract awards for the construction of the Ejinrin/Folagbade/Ibadan Road in Ijebu-Ode, Ilaro-Papalanto Road in Ewekoro Local Government and Ogijo Road, Sagamu Local Government Area.
The indication of an imminent clash between the state and the Federal authorities emerged when Governor Ibikunle Amosun said the action of the officials of the Federal Ministry of Works regarding the reconstruction of the roads had become unbearable to his administration.
Ogun State Government and the Federal Government allegedly awarded contracts for the construction of the disputed roads to the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
Amosun, who spoke during the inauguration of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, as Chairman of the state Council of Obas, said his government had already paid N2bn to the contractors for the construction of the roads before the Federal Ministry of Works “woke up from its slumber”.
The governor said, “We should let our people know that in spite of our efforts, some people do not want good things to be done. But we will not be deterred. We will continue to make sure that all of these promises we made to our people we keep them.
“In Ijebu-Ode, we had awarded the road and somehow, the Federal Ministry of works woke up from its slumber and it said the ministry had awarded the contract for the road since 2009 and 2010. If you have awarded such a road since that time, why did you not pay for it? They did not do anything.
“What we are saying is that, this is Ogun State. We are more than that. We want to do what we call Ogun Standard with six lanes and fly-overs. That is what we said we want to do. Imagine paying N2bn for a road and somebody somewhere said he is paying N400m for four lanes to the same contractors.”
