RE:- SETTLING POLITICAL SCORES THROUGH PEOPLE’S BASIC NEED IN IJESHALAND.
For the attention of:
His Royal Majesty, the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland,
Ijesha council of Chiefs,
Ijesha Elites Club,
Ijesha Forum,
Roots Club,
Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye,
Hon. Wale Adedoyin,
Hon. Nasir Olateju, chairman house committee on water resources.
All Stakeholders,
RESPONSES TO DECEIVE IJESHA PEOPLE AND COVER UP THEIR ULTERIOR MOTIVES.
Let’s welcome Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye back to the country.
After the situation on ilesha water project became public knowledge about a month ago, all the major players involved in the project namely Gov. Oyetola (through Funke Egbemode), Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye and Engr. Mrs. Tawakalitu William hurriedly came out to inform the public about the current status of the project. In their separate responses, they were all united by the wrong opinion that the write- up on the project was politically motivated.
A popular Yoruba proverb says ” O ni nkan ti aja ri ti aja fi ngbo, Aja kii deede gbo lasan”. It is necessary to let the public know that bringing out the issue for public attention has nothing to do with politics but because of what Gov. Oyetola has been doing to most of landmark projects of the previous administration which calls for serious concern by anybody that truly loves the state irrespective of politics.
The public will recall that the ilesha water project was awarded on 19th Dec. 2017 and was to be completed on 19th Dec. 2019 but which has not been completed till date.
From there responses, it is obvious that there are more questions are begging for answer from the government, the speaker of the house and the consultant before anybody can belief them because the issue has exposed Gov. Oyetola’s lack of interest on the project, therefore, it is necessary to call the public’s attention to what they said in order for the people to know the correct situation of things on the multi- billion naira project.
1)- THE COSMETIC RESPONSE OF FUNKE EGBEMODE.
The government through the commissioner for information Funke Egbemode said that the issues raised on the water project was political and unsubstantiated. It is very unfortunate.
From her statement,it can be confirmed that the government of Gov. Oyetola was not in touch with the actual situation of things on the project and won’t even care if the project fails at the end because on two separate occasions, the government announced a completion period of March 2020( after the December 2019 completion period has lapsed) and which nothing was heared from the government at the expiration of the period they announced.
For a project that is being supervised by a consultant, a client ministry and handled by reputable contractors, every affairs of the project were expected to be formal, official and professional. Therefore, any reason for delay should not be just a mere excuse because the major reason for the delay according to Egbemode was COVID-19 whereas, COVID-19 lockdown lasted for only a period of 6 months before activities resumed back in the country.
Another flimsy reason she gave was the effect of mining activities on the raw water bodies on the performance of the project. This is a big shame because if the government of Gov. Oyetola is serious with the project, such issue will not create a problem at all before the project got to the stage that it will constitute a serious delay.
Anyway, considering the situation on other previous government projects which were abandoned, it will not be good enough to be watching a project that the state got through a very rare kind gesture to go by the way of others.
However, Funke Egbemode should explain the followings to the public;
– Why has the client ministry been silent on the project all these while?
– What is the client ministry ( water resources) doing on a government project of a specific completion period that has overshot the original time of 2 extra years?
– Is there any working relationship between all concerned ministry and agencies of the government especially on the areas where mining activity is affecting the performance of the water project?
– Has the government issued any deadline to the contractors handling the projects?
Meanwhile, it will be good if Funke Egbemode can also come up with timeline for completion of other projects that has been systematically “abandoned” such as Gbongan-Akoda road, Osogbo- ikirun- ila odo road, Oba Adesoji Aderemi circular road, Iwo mega school and others if honestly there’s no any ulterior motive by Gov. Oyetola.
2)- THE TASTELESS DEFENCE OF RT. HON TIMOTHY OWOEYE .
From, the response of Rt.Hon.Timothy Owoeye through his CPS which was captioned “Deviltry taken too far” it is obvious that the interest of the state and his constituents doesn’t matter to the speaker of unlike his own personal political interest. He has by his response, reduced the importance of the institution of the state legislature. His experience as a fourth timer and eventually as the speaker has not been a valuable one in managing the affairs of the legislative arm government in a way that people’s interest will not be compromised.
Ridiculously for the speaker, he threw all forms of decency to the wind by telling the public that the house of assembly has been regularly monitoring the project and had carried out oversight visits to the project site. What a deceit !!! ???
Let the speaker respond to the following issues raised from his response:
– What were the findings of the house committee during the oversight visits?
– Why were the findings not stated by the speaker in his response?
– What was the stance of the house on the 2 years extra time delay on the project? Were the contractors questioned about this and what was their excuse?
– What was the position of the house committee on the effect of mining activities on the raw water bodies that is causing a serious delay? Were those concerned summoned?
The tasteless response of the speaker to the issue lacked the required legislative approach to addresing a problem. The speaker should understand that he owes his constituency and the entire state a duty beyond his “yes sir” attitude that he thinks will fetch him further political gains.
3)- THE COMIC RESPONSE OF ENGR. TAWA WILLIAMS.
The hurried response of the project consultant, Engr. Mrs. Tawa Williams exposed her insincerity a lot and it is very unfortunate. The woman deserves public sympathy because it’s not easy to deny oneself. It’s needless to state all she went through in the hands of Gov. Oyetola before she was reconsidered for the job as consultant on the project. The way the DCOS, Abdullahi Binuyo handled her case then should not be brought to the public.
So, the multicolored reasons put up by Williams to justify the ugly incidents on the projects are not only funny but will leave a reasonable mind disappointed in her. As a professional with long standing experience in the field of water project, she is not expected to be covering this mess because puting the entire time extension of 2 years of the project on COVID 19 and mining activities is not honest enough when it is open to all that nationwide lockdown was just between April- October, 2020.
A serious consultant on a project who is up to her duties will envisage a problem and profer solution before it constitutes a big problem but this was not the case with Mrs Williams on the project. Can we trust her?
Also from her response, she came up with a timeline for completion of the project where she indicated that laying of pipes in ilesha township, Kajola, iponda and idominasi has been completed and the joint inspection and handing over of that section will be done on 5th January 2022. As at 25 days after the promised date, nothing of such has been done. Who are they deceiving here?
For a project that every component must work together on completion, it is unreasonable to carry out sectional handover especially when the entire component has not been tested and confirmed their functionality. Who is Engr. Tawa Williams trying to deceive here?
From the above, it can be seen that it is risky and difficult to rely absolutely the claims and the completion timeline of the woman as stated in her response. Her submissions on the matter cannot be totally trusted.
If laying of pipeline would be handed over and water supply to the pipes will come a year after, it calls for serious concern.
Let’s all hope that Gov. Oyetola and his team on the ilesha water project will put politics aside and put the interest of the people and the state in their hearts especially on all these landmark projects.
Till then…………………………..
