The government of Oyo state approved a bill of N11billion by a contractor for clearing of the bush on the pathway of a 32km circular road, the total cost of which appears equally scandalous.
The contract with ENL Consortium for the road was signed in 2017 during the administration of Abiola Ajimobi and the N67billion cost has upset the incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde, who believes it is grossly inflated.
The governor in a fit of anger about the snail-speed work on the road, initially issued a stop-work order, but has rescinded the decision and asked the contractor to deliver the road as scheduled in 2020.
The new order was made even after the governor found that the contractor claimed N5billion as the cost of four or five culverts, an average of N1 billion per culvert.
The road itself will cost an average of N2billion per kilometre, according to PMNewsNigeria.
Makinde believed the entire road contract was a rip off on the Oyo treasury and that the job was overestimated by N53billion.
When he visited the road project last week, Makinde initially ordered a stop work order, after he found that the contractor has only done 5.5 % of the job, after two years.
He changed his mind after a review meeting held between officials of the state government and the ENL Consortium.
Taiwo Adisa, the governor’s spokesman said the road is being done on Build, Operate And Transfer Basis.
Adisa’s statement further read: “The Ibadan Circular Project is a 32-kilometre road contract awarded by the immediate past administration under a Build Operate and Transfer concessionaire arrangement at the cost of N67 billion.
“However, discoveries by the incumbent administration in Oyo State have confirmed that besides the extremely slow pace of work on the contract which meant that only 5.5 percent of work had been done in two and a half years, sections of the cost quoted may be apparently unjustifiable.
“For instance, documents at the disposal of Oyo State Government indicate that the ENL Consortium originally quoted N14 billion as the contract sum, whereas the former government went ahead to sign the contract at N67 billion.
“Again, the sum of 11 billion is being quoted for clearance of the bush on the 32-kilometre stretch of the road, while the same consortium is claiming to have spent the sum of N5 billion on some four or five culverts.
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