Kunle Adelabu & Wale Jagun
-HiTech has received N20.5billion from N27.5billion contract sum – Assembly Committee on Works
The Lagos State Government has been told in clear terms that it has failed to prioritise the needs of people of Igbogbo Kingdom and that of Ikorodu Division at large, especially over its failure to ensure the completion of the Igbogbo/Bola Ahmed Tinubu/ Igbe Road which has been under construction for about eight years.
A First-Class monarch, the Adeboruwa of Igbogbo, HRM Oba (Barr.) Semiudeen Orimadegun Kasali, asserted that the government is not considering the people in his domain as human beings when the Lagos Assembly Committee on Road and Infrastructures led by Hon. Desmond Elliot paid him a courtesy visit in his palace on Tuesday.
Other members of the Assembly in the entourage were Hon. Femi Saheed, representing Kosofe, Hon. Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA), Ikorodu Constituency II and Hon. Gbolahan Ogunleye, Ikorodu Constituency I. Also, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Infrastructures, Engr. Lateef Ayomide Somide and General Manager, Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) were present as committee members.
The monarch also expressed his displeasure over the failure of the government to pay compensation to families whose houses were demolished to pave way for the construction of the road which has made little progress since 2017.
Adeboruwa of Igbogbo who stated that he was very happy on the day the motion was moved by the representative of Ikorodu Constituency II, Hon. Aro Moshood Abiodun (AMA) upon which resolution was passed on abandoned projects across the state, also expressed his displeasure at the way the project has been allowed to drag on for years.
“I am happy that the committee led by Hon. Desmond Elliot is here today and I am talking on the way I feel about the treatment being meted out to us.
“In the days of Tobun (Hon. Tobun, when he was the Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructures), I was always on him to see how to get this road completed.”
The royal father who also queried a situation where a sitting governor only takes care of his own area and neglects others quipped, “for how long are we going to continue with that?”
Oba Kasali who also commended the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works & Infrastructures and the General Manager, Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) and other civil servants said that they are ready to work but for their bosses.
The royal father furthered, “I am also a retired civil servant and I understand the way the system works. I commended the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works & Infrastructures and the General Manager, Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC), because they are ready to work but there is nothing that they can do when those at the top are not encouraging them to work.
“Let those with power do the needful and the civil servants are ready to work. These are not the people to blame.
“The problem is that the state government does not priotise my community. They did not see us as human beings and we are the ones that will come out to vote whenever there is any election. After Ikorodu, the next place to get a large voting population is Igbogbo.
“But when it comes to projects, you will now be telling us that you do not derive much revenue from here. Is that what led to your election in the first place?
“I am speaking with great concern and I want you(lawmakers) to pass my concern to those in authority.
“There is no justification for the road to remain uncompleted and people are yet to be compensated. It is of great concern that the government is now awarding the road project in sections and for how long are we going to contend with that?
“When did the construction of the bridge at Odo – Iya Alaro that will link Ojota – Maryland bridge to Ikeja which falls under the constituency of Hon. Saheed that the state government is embarking upon start and is now nearing completion?
“What did we do in Igbogbo for a road project that has commenced since 2017 to be at this stage?
“I have been asking those in authority if they will be inviting me for the commissioning of Gbodu to Gberigbe road when it is fully completed. How do they want me to feel or what do they want me to say?
“The Itamaga to Gbodu started after the Igbogbo/Bola Tinubu/Igbe Road and it has been completed and on the day of the commissioning, the governor assured us that the Igbogbo road will be prioritised. After that, the construction from Gbodu to Gberigbe has also commenced and is moving very fast”, Oba Kasali said.
Adeboruwa charged the committee members to visit the Afa Bridge and Gintin to see what people are facing because of the bad road.
“It is noteworthy that the area has seven Igbe towns which are under Igbogbo Kingdom and other communities to make it about 15 communities with a large population.
Oba Kasali also informed the legislators and other members that, “These people are really suffering. Rain is starting soon and these people are going to be facing difficulties.
“As far as I am concerned, the government is not addressing my people’s plight. We are not happy and I am saying it with all sense of responsibility. We are not pleased with the government on the way and manner that it is dealing with our people. We are not happy.
“Help me pass this message to Madam Speaker and let her pass it to Mr Governor, his Deputy and others at the top.
“Help me deliver my message to Mr Governor and I will repeat myself whenever I see him without mixing words”, Adeboruwa asked the lawmakers.
The First-Class royal father also enjoined the Lagos State Assembly men and top officials of the Ministry of Works to ensure that the culvert along the Igbogbo/Bayeku Road is reconstructed in such a way that will make it bigger and above what it is at present because of amount of water and waste that will be channelled through it.
The royal father also called on the Assembly men that the government should fund the LSPWC properly for the projects that the agency is handling to be completed within time.
“The state government needs to fund the Public Works properly. That is only when they can do their work properly. I know that they can deliver if properly mobilised,” he charged.
“It is with grace of God that my chiefs and I myself are walking the streets because there are rumours that we cannot act because we have been given money by the government and we cannot speak for them, ” Adeboruwa Semiudeen Kasali added.
Odofin of Igbogbo, Odofin Tajudeen Onasanya, who spoke before the monarch expressed the Adeboruwa – in – Council and the entire community’s happiness at the representation of Hon. Aro Moshood especially his efforts on ensuring that the state government completes the road.
While urging the committee to ensure that the needful is done by releasing funds to the contractor and ensuring close monitoring of work, Odofin Onasanya said that Oba Kasali and his chiefs have been at the receiving end of people’s displeasure towards the state of the road and failure to pay them compensation for demolished houses.
Speaking earlier, Hon. Aro Abiodun said that the tour was the outcome of the motion that he moved on the state of the Igbogbo road, adding that the committee and the ministry officials are visiting to see the project and how progress can be made on it.
“We are on this tour because of the motion that I moved on the floor of the House which was encouraged by your incessant calls over the road and the sufferings of our people.
“It was based on the motion that I moved that we are here to again see what has been done so far and ensure that the project gets the desired attention of the state government.” he explained.
Hon. Desmond Elliot, after listening to the representative of the HiTech Construction Company on what they have done so far during the project tour after the meeting with the Adeboruwa and chiefs, expressed his displeasure towards the company for not making much progress since the last time that the committee visited despite accessing funds.
He revealed that the company which has collected N20.5billion out of the total contract sum which is N27. 5billlion should have gone far with the project.
“I am not particularly happy because we were here about a year ago. We were also here before that but the changes that we are seeing (today) are not commensurate with the funds committed and they are insignificant with the amount of money that you have collected as far as I am concerned.
“Between that time and now, you have collected N5.5billion. What you have done doesn’t speak well and causes a lot of embarrassment to the government.
“In addition, HiTech is a company with a reputation and we have other big companies that were only paid 10% or 20% that have really gone far with projects awarded to them.
“This is quite heartbreaking because this is a major part of Ikorodu and not just that it has electoral value and population, but we have given them untold hardship.
“HiTech being a company of repute after accessing such funds from the Lagos State Government should have taken (the project) far beyond what we are seeing here today which is causing an embarrassment to the government and making the representative look weak and I don’t think that is proper.
“You are making our job at the House of Assembly look as if we are not serious.
“I think that we have to start taking the bull by the horns. We don’t want to lose an election here and we want people who voted for us to be happy but they are not with this kind of work,” the House committee chairman expressed his displeasure.
Hon. Femi Saheed also said:
“From your explanation that nothing much has been done since we came here about a year ago. I can see that you (HiTech) since then have accessed N5.5billion. Can we see what you have been able to do with the sum collected since 2024 when we came here and now?” he asked.
“Mr Fred, the HiTech representative addressing the Assembly men said that the company has been able to complete the left-hand side of the project with the sum N5.5billion accessed since last year.
It was reliably gathered that his claim is far from the truth because work had stopped on this particular side since last weekend.
The side which he claimed has been completed on the road is only done from the point close to Afa Bridge down to the Igbogbo Primary Health Centre (PHC) axis which was done with drainage and interlock on the road, but from the PHC which is close to the UAMC (Eleja) Primary School, Igbogbo, the company only constructed drainage till Club 24/ Igbogbo Night Market recently.
Nothing has been done from that point to the Cemetery which is still a long distance and part of the left side of the road that HiTech claimed has been completed.
Meanwhile, on pleading for intervention of the Assembly by the representatives of the Igbe Joint Community Development Associations and Hon. Aro, to retain the service of the swamp buggy that the community rented to clear the canal at the abandoned Afa Bridge for more days, the House committee chairman obliged them with the request.
The joint CDAs had rented the machine through a self – help project to clear the canal and install rings across to temporarily control the heavy flood at the Afa Bridge that usually cut – off Igbe communities from Igbogbo whenever it rains.
