Why we inflated road contract sums from N8bn to N16.4bn – Ex-Gov Obaseki

DAILY POST had on Thursday reported that the contract sum for 17.5-kilometers road project was inflated from N8 billion to N16.4 billion by the immediate past government of Godwin Obaseki.

Recall that the project manager of the company handling the project, Ifiokebong Ekong, had on Thursday told members of the Physical Assets and Infrastructure, a subcommittee of the Edo State Assets Verification Committee, that the project was awarded in May 2023 with the sum of N8 billion.

Ekong spoke when the subcommittee led by its chairman, Patrick Obahiagbon visited the site while acting on a petition by Edo citizens alleging massive inflation of the contract sum of road.

According to the project manager, the road contract was awarded to Nsik Engineering Company Limited on May 16, 2023, while work commenced in September 2023.

“The company was mobilized with the sum of N2.9 billion, representing 25 percent of the contract sum of N8 billion. After the mobilization, the contract sum was varied, and some amount was added to the initial cost of the project.

“The completion period of the job, which was initially three and half years, was reviewed downward to 18 months (one year and six months).

“The contract sum was initially N8 billion when it was awarded in September 2023, but it was reviewed upward to N12 billion in 2024 and later to the current sum of N16.4 billion in June 2024”, he said.

Reacting, the immediate past Governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki attributed the inflation of the road project thrice a year to the alleged galloping inflation occasioned with the removal of fuel subsidy by the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.

Obaski, who spoke though his media adviser, Crusoe Osagie opined that the said road contract was awarded around May 2023, when the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office.

Osagie statement dated December 13, 2024 was titled, “Revaluation of road contract sum due to galloping inflation caused by gross mismanagement of economy by your APC government at centre, Obaseki tells Okpebholo”.

According to him, the vacuity of the Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo, and his hatchet men was once again laid bare in their latest jaundiced piece, where they made spurious and baseless allegations of road contract inflation, in a desperate attempt to denigrate and rewrite the sterling legacy of the immediate past governor of the State, His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

“The said road contract was awarded around May 2023, when the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office. It is on record that immediately after the president took office, the removal of subsidy and the devaluation of the naira occurred, plummeting the naira and driving inflation up by over 300 percent.

“Between May and September 2023, the economy had experienced drastic price increases due to relentless inflation. The price of cement climbed from about N3000 to N15000, fuel jumped from about N190 to over N600 per litre, and a bag of rice which used to be about N23,000 rose to over N100,000. Other items including rods, sand, diesel, and even logistics and manpower skyrocketed astronomically.

“It shouldn’t therefore be surprising that the contract sum for the project, which was initially scheduled to commence in May but only began in September, had to be reviewed. It was revalued the first time because the inflation had just started and had to be reviewed again because the inflation was relentless.

“Unfortunately, the committee is so bias that they decided to orchestrate this blackmail in a desperate effort to tarnish the image of the immediate past governor, while neglecting the fact that the galloping inflation occasioned by the gross mismanagement of the national economy by their own government at the centre was what was responsible for the review and increase in contract sum.

“It is most disappointing and reprehensible that the State Asset Verification Subcommittee on Physical Assets and Infrastructure, would stoop this low just to denigrate and witch-hunt the immediate past governor, His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, who is adjudged to be arguably the best governor to have ever governed the State, while resorting to lies and cheap propaganda to achieve this ignoble agenda”, he stated.