•Former Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki
The immediate past Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has said that the galloping inflation caused by the All Progressives Congress-led federal government led to the review of contracts under his administration in the state.
Obaseki, in a statement issued through his media aide, Crusoe Osagie, today, Friday, said the claim that the contract sum for a 17.5 km Benin-Abraka road project, Phase 1C, was increased by 100 per cent from N8 billion to N16 billion within one year under the immediate past administration was baseless.
The Edo State Assets Verification Committee, through the Physical Assets and Infrastructure Committee, headed by former House of Representatives member Patrick Obahiagbon, on Thursday, expressed disapproval of the contract review.
The road project was awarded to Nsik Engineering Company Limited on May 16, 2023, with work commencing in September 2023.
Obahiagbon had described the development as troubling, aligning it with allegations raised in a petition received from citizens of Edo State about the road.
He said: “The explanation provided by the project manager corroborates the content of the petition, which alleged that the contract was inflated to fund the governorship election on September 21, 2024.
“It is nonsensical and unfair that within one year, the road contract sum would jump from N8 billion to N12 billion and then to N16 billion just months before the election. A thorough investigation should be carried out, and we urge the main committee to recommend appropriate actions to the state government. If the petitioners are correct, this is an unfair deal for the people of Edo State.”
In his response, Obaseki said: “The revaluation of the road contract sum due to galloping inflation caused by the gross mismanagement of the economy by your APC government at the centre led to the contract review.
“The vacuity of the Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, and his hatchet men were once again laid bare in their latest jaundiced piece, where they made spurious and baseless allegations of road contract inflation in a desperate attempt to denigrate and rewrite the sterling legacy of the immediate past governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki.
“The road contract was awarded around May 2023, when the incumbent President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, assumed office. It is on record that immediately after the president took office, the removal of subsidies and the devaluation of the naira occurred, plummeting the naira and driving inflation up by over 300 per cent.
“Between May and September 2023, the economy experienced drastic price increases due to relentless inflation. The price of cement climbed from about N3,000 to N15,000, fuel jumped from about N190 to over N600 per litre, and a bag of rice, which used to cost about N23,000, rose to over N100,000. Other items, including rods, sand, diesel, and even logistics and manpower, skyrocketed astronomically.
“It should, therefore, not be surprising that the contract sum for the project, which was initially scheduled to commence in May but only began in September, had to be reviewed. It was revalued the first time because inflation had just started and had to be reviewed again because the inflation was relentless.”
Obaseki stated that the committee’s bias blinded them to the facts, leading them to orchestrate blackmail in a desperate attempt to tarnish the image of the immediate past governor.
The statement added: “Unfortunately, the committee is so blinded by their bias that they decided to orchestrate this blackmail in a desperate effort to tarnish the image of the immediate past governor while neglecting the fact that the galloping inflation caused by the gross mismanagement of the national economy by their own government at the centre was responsible for the review and increase in the contract sum.
“It is most disappointing and reprehensible that the chairman of the State Asset Verification Subcommittee on Physical Assets and Infrastructure, Patrick Obahiagbon, would stoop this low just to denigrate and witch-hunt Obaseki.”
