Benjamin Omoike l Tuesday, September 25, 2018
ABEOKUTA, Ogun, Nigeria – The African Democratic Congress in Ogun State has berated governor Ibikunle Amosun for abandoning several infrastructural projects across the state. In a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Abiola Odutola, ADC called on residents and indigenes to rise and save Ogun state from further socio-economic damage. He said littering the state with abandoned projects was a clear signal that there “is a problem with policy direction.”
According to him, events in the last seven years are pointers to the fact that the state needs to be rescued from the era of wasting resources on the construction of several bridges that would not add any economic value to the state and the people. “ADC remains resolute in its defence of the common people of Ogun state. We have perfected plans to ensure that we finish whatever we start and stand by the commitment of ADC to the War Against Poverty,” the publicity secretary said.
According to the party, abandoned projects have made life more difficult for residents and investors in the state as they spend more on transportation of goods and maintenance of their vehicles, especially during the raining season. Some of the abandoned projects are across Akute (road), Magboro (road), Agbado Junction (bridge and road), Ijoko (road), Sango (road)and Lambe (bridge and road) areas of the state, among others.
Contrary to the claims of the government that the projects would enhance rapid economic development and boost foreign direct investment in the state, ADC argued that such development had made life miserable for all residents in the areas and would also scare foreign investors from the state.
Odutola said, “Residents are the ones bearing the brunt of the state of the projects as the cost incurred on car maintenance and transport fares in the areas have gone up by over 200 per cent in the past years. When it rains, some residents have to rely on some men, who carry them on their backs like babies.
“It is appalling that after more than six years, this administration has not completed projects it promised to finish in two years. Initially, it blamed the delay on the economic recession it claimed was caused by the Peoples’ Democratic Party but one should ask the governor how come the recession didn’t affect the commencement and completion of the bridges he constructed across Abeokuta within the same time.”
For instance, as explained by the publicity secretary, one effect is that a project that was supposed to be completed in 2013 at N100 billion (when the naira/dollar exchange rate was at N150/$1), would be completed at three times or more the cost in 2019, (when naira/dollar rate might hover between N450 and N500/$1).
“There is secrecy in the preparation, enactment, and implementation of the budget in the state, as well as a pervasive lack of transparency, conspired to keep citizens in the dark as to what their government owes them. Ogun residents must therefore rise and save the state from the ruling party, which claims to open the state for business while inflicting poverty on the people that elected it to power. I urge them to join hands with ADC and wage war against poverty in our dear state,” he added.
