Investigate Waterfront Infrastructure Ministry on Dredging Contract, Right Group Urges Sanwo-Olu
By Ranmilowo Ojalumo
The Centre for Human and Socio-economic Rights (CHSR), a non-governmental organization and its partners across civil society platforms in Lagos State, has called on the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo Olu to immediately carry out thorough investigation into the award of contracts and execution of dredging and water transportation projects embark upon by the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development under the current commissioner, Yacoob Ekundayo Alebiosu.
The right group made the call at a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, saying recent happenings with regards to the implementation of projects embark upon by the ministry has raised doubts on the commitment of the Lagos State Government to fulfill its promises for improved accessibility and movements through water across the state.
While addressing journalist at the briefing, the president of the group, comrade Alex Omotehinse expressed concern that most of the works being carried out by contractors at various location across the state are shoddy.
He said “there were several misrepresentations during the Ministerial Press Briefing by the Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development where the scorecard of the ministry was provided in commemoration of the first year’s anniversary of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s second term in office. It is regrettable that the Commissioner of the ministry, Alebiosu did not provide accurate and substantial information on the prevailing situation with regards to ongoing dredging of waterways across the state.
“We have reasons to doubt the progress of works on ongoing projects contrary to the commissioner’s claim that the Jetty at Amuwo Odofin is currently at 52 percent completion while both the Ijede Shoreline / protection Jetty and Mowo Ojoo Jetty stand at 48 percent Completion. We expect the commissioner to shed more light on the progress of reclamation projects across the state under his watch.
“There are concerns about shoddy works being carried out by the contractors, who from all indications, are either not well-equipped or competent enough to deliver. We are deeply concerned that these projects may end up being abandoned or lead to wastage of public resources unless Governor Sanwo-Olu undertake immediate assessment of the progress of works and ensure proper implementation.
According to Omotehinse, a civil society organisation, under the aegis of Joint Youth Progressive Alliance (JYPA) had earlier raised concerns regarding the channelisation projects being sloppily implemented. Another group, Alliance for Accountability, Good Governance and Development (AAGGD) has also raised alarm over the unwholesome work going on in some of the locations. He therefore call on Governor Sanwo-Olu to investigate and correct prevailing anomalies on the ongoing projects.
Omotehinse hinted that ongoing projects eliciting concerns include the channelisation at Mende in the Maryland axis of Lagos metropolis for which substantial payments from contract sums are believed to have been made.
“There are concerns by stakeholders including boat operators to the effect that the equipment deployed for dredging are low-graded and unfit to deliver on the specified job as expected. Therefore there is the need for Governor Sanwo-Olu to allay the fears of the public by conducting assessment of the state of projects awarded by Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure Development without further delay”, Omotehinse said.
The CHSR President also expressed concern that some of the ongoing dredging projects may have been awarded to proxies of leading members in the administration of Governor Sanwo-Olu who has achieved very little or no progress in spite of payments received for the contracts awarded.
“More disturbing however is that some contractors handling ongoing dredging projects are said to lack the requisite expertise and without equipment to deliver quality jobs. We call on Governor Sanwo-Olu to investigate Ministry of Waterfront Infrastructure to allay public concerns and suspicions regarding arbitrary awards of dredging contract and ensure remedy to the poor implementation ongoing works.
“We call on Governor Sanwo-Olu to ensure thorough diligence in the selection of contractors. We call for the immediate intervention of Governor Sanwo-Olu towards ensuring that resources are no longer diverted, but to also ensure that only contractors with requisite competence as well as required expertise and equipment are awarded the dredging of waterways to facilitate rapid transformation of water infrastructure in Lagos State” Omotehinse said.
