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… Ogun needs N13 billion to fix same
Abiodun OBA
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state said the failed portions of Sango-Ota axis of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta expressway in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the State was not an act of wishful negligence on the part of his administration.
Abiodun disclosed this during a Town Hall meeting on 2022-2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and 2022 Budget for Ogun West Senatorial District, held at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The governor, who said that he was pained over continouos protest rocking the road despite palliative work on the failed portion, said the Sango-Ota axis is strategic to the state and the nation, insisting that he would not leave motorists and people plying the road to suffer untold hardship.
Abiodun said: “The issue is about funding. About N13 billion is needed to fix the failed portions of that road and the Federal Government is thinkering with SUKKUk Bond.”
“I have held several meetings with the Minister of Works where I proposed that, as a State, we will go ahead and take the loan of N13bn on your behalf, and make the money available to your contractor. However, we must constitute a tripartite agreement between us, yourself, Ministry of Finance that will tie the process of the bond back to a financial institution as a holding fund. That will harmonise our exposure.
“That is the ongoing discussion we are having and I am not sure whether there is any administration that can be more creative than that. I am particularly pained because some of the people who protested in the Local Government Area were in a meeting with me earlier this week or last week where we shared with them the constraints that we have as an administration and they understood with us.
“They saw clearly that this was not an act of wishful negligence on the part of our administration”, he added.
The governor also divulged that the state is waiting for the transfer of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Expressway to the state for reconstruction, while the construction of Ota- Idi-Iroko has been handed over to Mike Adenuga through a tax credit scheme and the construction of Sagamu Toll Gate-Papalanto-Ilaro road has also been awarded to Dangote through the same scheme.
He added that construction was ongoing at Ilaro-Owode-Idi-Iroko road in Yewa South, Oke Ola and Ago-Oshoffa road in Imeko Local Government, Oke Afa road and Agosasa bridge in Ipokia Local Government Area, Joju-Oju in Sango-Ota in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area.
In his remarks, the Olu of Ilaro, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, lauded the government for its developmental stride, however pointed out the slow pace of work on the ongoing construction of Ilaro-Owode road and appealed to the government to look into abandoned Ilaro-Ijoun-Ilara road.
Earlier, the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi Obalanlege, called for urgent attention to bye-pass and link roads, upgrade of Gateway Institute of Technology to a University, while a housing scheme should be sited in Ota to reduce the housing deficit in the town.
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