By Jahpet Okeosun
Apprehension that Oke Fia, Osogbo N10billion flyover project may fail has forced the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke to secretly hire a consultant that would supervise the contractor handling the project, this medium has learnt. Recalled that Adeleke had announced on October 27, 2023, the plan of his administration to embark on a N100 billion infrastructure development plan for the state. In the plans were five flyovers and 45 roads across the 30 local government areas. Subsequently, Adeleke in December, 2023, flagged off the construction of some of the selected flyovers and roads in Osogbo and other parts of the state. Curiously, while contractors handling most of the other projects in the plan were disclosed, the one handling the Oke Fia Flyover was not initially mentioned in the public. Due to the location of the bridge, not long after work had commenced, the poor job being executed by the contractor quickly attracted the prying eyes of the public, who raised germane questions about the quality of the execution. Succumbing to pressure of critics, who had queried the competence of the contractor, the government later mentioned A’skorj Nigeria Limited, as the contractor.
The N10.76billion bridge which floundered dangerously due to lack of capacity by the contractor, has led to hiring of a Consultant brought from a construction company (name withheld) based in Lagos to rescue the project. A source within government, said out of the projects Adeleke administration was executing, it has to hire a consultant, Mr Dayo Eluyemi, specially for the 7- span Oke Fia flyover because the implementation of the project was failing. “Ordinarily, Ministry of Works is supposed to supervise the project and the ministry is supervising all other projects of Adeleke administration. Government can’t have a professional Ministry and still be spending huge amount of money on consultancy. “But the floundering of Oke-Fia flyover project forced Adeleke to run to Lagos and hire a consultant at extral cost on the state finances to safe the project. “The consultant was the one that recieved the team from the Nigeria Society of Engineer that recently came to the state. The contractor was nowhere to be found. The company handling the project is owned by a relation of Adeleke from Ede town.
“The complaint over the project had strained the relationship between the governor and the contractor. “The implications of hiring a consultant for a project that was supposed to be monitored by the Ministry is that Osun is paying more for the work,” the source said.
