• Hausa Edition
  • Podcast
  • Conferences
  • LeVogue Magazine
  • Business News
  • Print Advert Rates
  • Online Advert Rates
  • Contact Us
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Leadership Newspapers
Read in Hausa
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Leadership Newspapers
No Result
View All Result

Edo Committee Uncovers Inflation Of Road Contract

by Patrick Ochoga
6 months ago
in News
Governor Monday Okpebholo

Governor Monday Okpebholo

Share on WhatsAppShare on FacebookShare on XTelegram

The Edo State Assets Verification Committee, set up by the state governor, Monday Okpebholo, has uncovered how the contract sum for a road project in the state was inflated from N8 billion to N16 billion by the immediate past government of Godwin Obaseki.

Advertisement

The contract sum for the 17.5-kilometre road project was inflated thrice within a year.
The Subcommittee on Physical Assets and Infrastructure of the committee discovered this during an inspection of the reconstruction of the Benin-Abraka Road Phase 1C.

The contract was awarded to Nsik Engineering Company Limited on May 16, 2023, while work commenced in September 2023.
The project manager of the construction firm, Engr. Ifiokebong Ekong, who spoke to members of the committee, said the company was mobilised with the sum of N2.9 billion, representing 25 percent of the contract sum of N8 billion.

Ekong said after the mobilisation, the contract sum was varied, and some amount was added to the initial cost of the project.

He added that the completion period of the job, which was initially three and a half years, was, however, reviewed downward to 18 months (one year and six months).

RELATED

A-BNB Global, John Bosco Institute Flag Off NYESAF Masonry Training

A-BNB Global, John Bosco Institute Flag Off NYESAF Masonry Training

18 minutes ago
edo

Edo Gov’t To Crack Down On Lounges, Clubs Others Without Valid Permits

1 hour ago

The project manager said the contract sum was initially N8 billion when it was awarded in September 2023, but it was reviewed upward to N12 billion in 2024 and later to the current sum of N16.4 billion in June 2024.

Speaking on the revelation, a member of the subcommittee, Engr. Abass Braimah, who frowned at the development, said the increment was 100 per cent.

According to him, “I don’t think there is anywhere in Nigeria or outside of this subnational that a project can be awarded for N8 billion, reviewed to N12 billion, and further reviewed to N16 billion.

“Why not just review it and take the entire purse of Edo State? If we can review from N8 billion to upward of between N12 billion and N16 billion in one year?

“What has substantially changed for you to have a 100 percent increment from N8 billion to N16 billion? Meanwhile, the job specification or contents have not changed. It is still the same thing.

“And all of these went through the tenders board processes. The board must have sat down to peruse, and it was not only you that submitted documents and bid for the contract.

“Against the backdrop of several other companies that tendered, they gave you this job at N8 billion. After the job was awarded at N8 billion, they reviewed it with a 50 percent increment. Fifty percent of N8 billion is N4 billion, which increased the sum to N12 billion, and they further reviewed it to N16 billion.

“What type of games are we playing here? These are games,” he said.

Earlier, the chairman of the subcommittee, Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, said the explanation by the project manager of the company confirmed the content of a petition the committee received from some citizens of the state on the alleged inflation of the contract sum for the road project.

Obahiagbon, who said the inflation took place within one year, alleged that it must have been done by the immediate past government to use the funds to finance the September 21, 2024, governorship election.

“The reason we have to take pains to particularly visit this site is based on a petition from Edo State citizens that we have just received.

“And the narrations of the construction firm’s project manager seem to justify the reasons and the nitty-gritty of that petition. The content of that petition was to the effect that there were massive reviews of contracts on this project because of the election.

“That the contract was colossally inflated because the outgoing governor needed money urgently and desperately to fund the September 21 governorship election.

“It absolutely makes no sense that within one year, a road contract sum would be varied from N8 billion to N12 billion and, in June, some few months to the election—maybe for election purposes—the contract sum again was varied from N12 billion to N16 billion.

“Maybe the petitioners were correct after all. If they were correct, this is an unfair deal to the people of Edo State,” he said.

Obahiagbon, who described the development as sad, added that it would urge the main committee to recommend to the state government that further investigation be carried out on the petition and the statement of the company’s project manager.


We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →

Join Our WhatsApp Channel



Tags: Godwin ObasekiSenator Monday Okpebholo
SendShareTweetShare
Previous Post

Bayelsa To Establish Rural Road Agency, Fund

Next Post

Lawmaker Decries Poor Funding Of Onitsha-Atani-Ossomala-Ndoni Road

Patrick Ochoga

Patrick Ochoga

You May Like

A-BNB Global, John Bosco Institute Flag Off NYESAF Masonry Training
News

A-BNB Global, John Bosco Institute Flag Off NYESAF Masonry Training

2025/06/04
edo
News

Edo Gov’t To Crack Down On Lounges, Clubs Others Without Valid Permits

2025/06/04
News

Natasha: Court Orders Substituted Service On Akpabio In N100bn Defamation Suit

2025/06/04
Federal Gov’t Builds Braille ICT Centre, Dormitories For Visually-impaired Kids
Education

Federal Gov’t Builds Braille ICT Centre, Dormitories For Visually-impaired Kids

2025/06/04
4 Teens To Represent Nigeria At Global Robotics Championship
Education

4 Teens To Represent Nigeria At Global Robotics Championship

2025/06/04
Tinubu
News

Tinubu To Embark On 10-day Project Commissioning Marathon In FCT

2025/06/04
Leadership Conference advertisement

LATEST

A-BNB Global, John Bosco Institute Flag Off NYESAF Masonry Training

Court Remands Kano TikToker Over Cross-dressing, ‘Indecent’ Social Media Content

Edo Gov’t To Crack Down On Lounges, Clubs Others Without Valid Permits

Natasha: Court Orders Substituted Service On Akpabio In N100bn Defamation Suit

Federal Gov’t Builds Braille ICT Centre, Dormitories For Visually-impaired Kids

4 Teens To Represent Nigeria At Global Robotics Championship

Tinubu To Embark On 10-day Project Commissioning Marathon In FCT

Police Arrest 4 Suspected Cult Members In Plateau

Police Arrest 1,774 Criminal Suspects In 2 Months

Wike To Deliver OAU Distinguished Personality Lecture On ‘Nigeria Of Our Dreams’

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Football
  • Others
    • LeVogue Magazine
    • Conferences
    • National Economy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Leadership Media Group - All Rights Reserved.