How Adeleke’s Road Construction Distorted $106m Ilesa Water Project 

• The Project Is Doomed – Engineer
• Litigation, Mining Activities Stalled Project – Osun Govt

The ongoing Ereja Square to Brewery road dualisation in Ilesa by the Osun State Government has ruined the $106 million Ilesa Water Project, OSUN DEFENDER reliable gathered. 

The ongoing road dualisation has caused lots of setbacks to the water project, with residents blaming the state government for prioritising the road over the water project and keeping watch while the multi-million dollar project is being ruined. 

OSUN DEFENDER visited Ilesa on Wednesday and it was observed that the laid pipes have been exhumed to pave way for the ongoing road dualisation.

At the Ilesa Central Mosque, some of the removed pipes were packed at the front of the mosque with some traders using them as seats.

From the central mosque to Ilesa Grammar School, Okesa Road, the removed water pipes were seen on both sides of the road, with some already vandalised.

At the front of Ilesa Grammar School, eight big pipes were observed, with some of them already broken.

The same thing was observed at First Bank, Ilesa, where some of the removed pipes were seen by the roadside.

Also, the medium observed that the ongoing construction has caused damage to the fiber cables installed by telecommunication companies in the area. 

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, a resident of Ilesa, Olaiya Jamiu, frowned at the silence of stakeholders in the town on the destruction and abandonment of the water project.

Jamiu said the state government ought to have found a way to construct the road without affecting the water project.

“It is so disheartening. Look at the amount that has been spent on this project; it has been a waste because the state government decided to prioritise road construction over the water project.

“I’m not saying the road construction is bad, but the government ought to have looked for a way to construct the road without causing damage to the water project. This is taxpayers’ money going to waste.

“Another sad part is that stakeholders in the community are not speaking up about this. How can one project lead to the death of another? This is not good enough, and we can’t move forward as a nation if this is the pay we squander taxpayers money,” Jamiu told OSUN DEFENDER.

Another resident who spoke with the medium, Mrs Yemisi Oladimeji, said some of the removed pipes had been stolen.

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Mrs Oladimeji noted that the state government might need to spend more on the water project if it decided to continue with it, questioning if the government did not think it through before starting the ongoing road dualisation.

According to her, “If you observed very well, some of the pipes have been moved from the main road to the street. That is the way people took them and sold them off.

“If the water project will continue which I’m not sure of, the state government will have to spend more than the money budgeted for the project initially due to the damage to the pipes and the stolen ones. 

“The government did not do well on this. I am a fan of Adeleke, but this is not what is expected of a government who have, in different fora, blamed the past administration in the state for mismanagement. What are we to call what is playing out in Ilesa?”

OSUN DEFENDER reports that the over 7-year-old water project has generated controversies, which led to the suspension of the Project Consultant, Mrs Tawa Williams, by the state government.

Also, the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, in December 2022, directed a ‘full-scale probe’ of the water project following what it described as a slow pace of work. 

The governor had noted that there was no progress on the project despite reported disbursement of N10bn and another $28m on it. 

The directive was sequel to the interim report of the State’s Assets Recovery Committee, Chaired by Dr Tokunbo Salami which recommended immediate suspension of the water project to stop further squandering of loans secured on it.

According to the interim report of the Salami-led committee, “the Islamic Development Bank agreed to fund the project to the tune of $65m while the Federal Government provided $41.94m. 

“So far, a total of $27.073m has been expended from the IDB loan of $65 million, leaving a balance of the sum of $37.926m. 

“From the Federal Government loan of $41.94m which the consultant had reportedly converted to N12bn, the sum of N10bn had been purportedly spent on the project, leaving a balance of N2bn.”

The committee noted that despite the huge sums of $27.073m and N10bn already spent so far, the Ilesa water project is not yet functional and the good people of Ilesa are yet to access any water.

The medium gathered that before the suspension of the project, the reticulation component and laying of water pipes had been completed.

Ilesa Water Project Is Doomed – Engineer

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, one of the engineers handling the work who does not want his name in print, said the project has been disrupted and doomed, saying it has suffered major setbacks over time.

According to him, the project was almost completed as the pipes which cost N12 billion as at then exchange rate, have been laid across Ilesa communities.

The engineer said the last thing on the project is the treatment of the water, which is to be handled by the Islamic Development Bank.

He added that the Osun State government is yet to commit any dime to the project.

According to him, “The Osun State Government is yet to contribute a dime to the project. The contractor then is a friend of former president Muhammadu Buhari, who used her relationship to secure a grant amounting to $41.9 million from the Federal Government.

“Also, there’s another loan of N65 billion from the Islamic Development Bank. But their money has not been exhausted. We only spent about N30 billion from the loan. The balance is still available.

“The FG is not happy about the delay in the completion of the project because they stood as the guarantor for the loan. I learnt that the pipes have been exhumed due to the ongoing road project in Ilesa, while some have been vandalized. 

“That would cost another money. The state government ought to have sort for the advice of experts who laid the pipes when they were about to commence the road construction. They should have been the ones to exhume it properly and relaid it. 

“The project is of three stages; the federal government handled the laying of the pipes from the water source at Kajola to Ilesa communities while the Islamic Development Bank would handle the treatment of the water and the state would handle the distribution of water to every household. But when they didn’t have the money, the FG took over for the distribution. The last thing we were waiting for them was for the FG to correct some defects from the water source and for the IDB to do the water treatment.”

Reacting, the state government through the Commissioner For Water Resources & Energy, Hon. Olufemi Oroniyi refuted the claim that the project has been stalled.

Oroniyi in a telephone interview with OSUN DEFENDER yesterday attributed the delay in its completion to ongoing legal battle between the state government and the sacked consultant.

He said: “Litigation has been the major reason the project has stalled. The contractor handling the project took the state government to court when her appointment was terminated but we won. Now we are at the appeal court and we are waiting for the judgement.

“When that is sorted we will mobilise back to site and see to the realisation of the project. Also, the mining activities in Ilesa have also contributed to the pollution of the water source. We can continue until the mining activities stopped. 

“The water will take up to three to six months before we can start distribution. We have approved the Federal Ministry of Mine to revoke the license of this miners if truly they issued it to them. 

“We have to exhumed the pipes due to the ongoing road project in Ilesa but we will relocate them when the road is concluded. The exhumation was done roughly in the first place but we are monitoring now. We are going to replace them all. 

“The federal ministry of water resources has promised to help us on the re installation of the water pipes. We know it’s capital intensive because most of the machine used in installing the pipes are imported.

“Governor Ademola Adeleke is keen to complete the project because Government is continum even though the IDB loan was secured by the former administration of governor Rauf Aregbesola. But we are all interested in making the project a reality.”