By Newsmata
The chairman of the Edo State Assets Verification Committee set up by Governor Monday Okpebholo to take stock of the assets and liabilities of the state on assuming office November 12, 2024, Dr. Ernest Afolabi-Umakhihe, on Thursday gave a peep into the can of worms left behind by the immediate-past administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki, disclosing that it left behind a whooping N200bn debt in contractual obligations to contractors.
Newsmata recalls that Obaseki, had in the dying minutes of his administration gone on projects commissioning spree, most of them uncompleted.
Updating journalists on their assignment at a press conference, Dr. Afolabi-Umakhihe who said the contractors were only paid mobilisation fees, exposed a suspected fraud in the ownership of the Radisson Hotel and the Edo Museum of West Africa Arts, (EMOWAA).
He said despite investing N3.8bn in EMOWAA, the state has no equity share, while in the case of Radisson Hotel, ownership suddenly changed in the twilight of the Obaseki administration leaving Edo State, the core investor with just 20% ownership.
He stated that the Okpebholo administration cannot deny Edo people the opportunity of good road networks especially during this dry season, hence the need for government to quickly act in good time to approve some of the ongoing road projects.
According to him, “There are huge outstanding commitments in respect of road infrastructure. No matter how indecent some of our findings are, the government has to explore the dry season to make an appreciable intervention in road construction.
“Most of the ongoing projects were awarded during the year 2024 and that leaves the new government with a huge burden amounting to about N200 billion being outstanding commitments to contractors who were only given mobilisation which in some cases were paid back to government officials as disclosed by some contractors”.
The Chairman said there was also non-adherence to the Edo State Public Procurement Law in the award of major contracts, which led to several dubious variations of contract sums. He added that in some cases, the variations were higher than the initial contract sum.
“The transaction on the Radisson Hotel project leaves so much to be desired. Whilst the project was initiated by the state government by sourcing over N17.5b from the Stock Market and an initial payment of N2 billion for acquisition of land, it is noted that just before the exit of the immediate past administration, the ownership had changed, leaving Edo State, the core investor with 20% ownership.
“The Museum of West Africa Arts–MOWAA is captured as an independent private trust sitting on government land. The Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism has minimal supervision on the project. Till date, Edo State has no equity stake in MOWAA even though the state had spent N3.8b as contribution.
“EDSG committing to paying over N5b for cyber security software license for the EdoGov platform for just three years starting from 2023 to 2025. Out of this sum, N1.7b has already been paid by the immediate past government. These are just some of the snippets of what we have unraveled.
“By the 6th of January, 2025 when we return, we will be looking at other critical sectors of the State; the housing sector, education (SUBEB and EdoBEST), Ministry of Environment, College of Health Sciences and Technology, College of Nursing Sciences, Ministry of Health, all Agricultural projects including grants from donor agencies, Edo Oil Palm Project, EDSOGPADEC, MOWAA, Edo Electrification Agency, sale of shares in BUA Cement, the Modular Refinery among others”, Dr. Afolabi-Umakhihe disclosed.