How Osun Gov’t Violated Procurement Law in Awarding Inisa Township Road Project, Crippled Livelihood
By Israel Olatunji Tijani
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“Help us tell them [the government] we need good roads, light, and water, but most importantly roads, that is what concerns us the most."
Mistaking the journalist for a government official because of his reflective jacket, this is what a 27-year-old woman, who simply wants to be identified as Mummy Ire, said at Inisa town market. She went on to say that members of the community were anticipating dividends of democracy from the government in the form of functional basic infrastructure, like the people in Osogbo, the capital city of Osun state.
Accompanied by fellow residents, Mummy Ire sat at a roasted corn stall. They were equally stressed about the importance of good roads as it is the main problem hurting their socio-economic livelihood. “We have other options to source for energy for cooking at home, we can get water from other sources, but we don’t have other options for transporting our farm produce,” she said.
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According to the 2007 census data, Inisa, a rustic, agrarian town in Odo-Otin Local Government Area (LGA) of Osun State, is home to 180,553 people. The town, predominantly occupied by farmers and traders is historically a warrior community deeply involved in the struggle for the survival of the Yorubas during the onslaught and incursions of invaders in Yorubaland in the 19th Century. They were the only town courageous enough to face the invading forces, unlike some others who sought refuge at the Ibadan war camp in Ikirun.
Having suffered the effects of a bad road network for several years, the people of Inisa were in a jubilant mood when they found out that their prayers on the construction of the inisa Township Road would finally be answered. The road, which is the community’s major connecting and linking several key locations like the Inisa Grammar School, markets, Primary Health Centre, (PHC) town hall, palace, and other towns villages, had not been attended to since the 1970s.
On June 23, 2022, the former governor of the state, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, who is now the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy awarded a contract for the rehabilitation of Inisa Township Road. The construction seemed like a miracle until the people's hopes were dashed when work stopped, and machinery moved away. Inisa township road has since remained in a deplorable state till date with vehicular movement raising dust when it is dry and becoming barely passable when it rains. The worsening condition of the road is due to flood, which arises due to the uncompleted drainage and crater in some sections of the road. Residents are groaning over the socio-economic risks the condition of the road poses to their trade with surrounding settlements.
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The Bane of Food Insecurity and Price Inflation
The poor state of the road has been an impeding factor limiting the free flow of farm produce. Giving an account of the economic impact, a market woman, Mrs Olaloye Folashade, lamented bitterly on how the bad road network has caused a hike in public transport. "I sell Yam Flour in the market and I normally get my goods from places like Iregba and Inaja. We do not usually get public transport sometimes because most of those people do not want to pass the route and if we eventually find some that do, they increase the price. Distances that should not cost more that #500, these people collect #1000 forcing us also to increase the prices of food items in the market”, she said. The worst part is in the end we were unable to get it transported even at high cost, the produce rotten and wastes away in the farm.
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The Bleeding Town
The worsening state of the road has made it a breeding ground for accidents, sparking concerns from the residents of Inisa and its environs. A native, Saheed Indunwirin, a commercial motorcycle rider, lamented bitterly about how often accidents occur on the road. He narrated an accident witnessed on the road involving three motorcycles just a week before the reporter’s visit where three people on the spot had their legs fractured.
To compound their woes, the nearest primary health centre to the location of the accident is a 15 km journey as shown on the Google map below, and it would even take longer with the bad state of the road connecting the Inisa SDA Health Centre except if an okada is used to transport them, which might even worsen the victim’s condition.
Dhikirullah Olowolagba, an indigene of Inisa and the chairman of the Commercial Motorcycle Riders’ Association, who also spoke on the recent wave of accidents on the road, called on the government to get the contractor back to site to complete the project as it continues to worsen their situations.
He said: “The contractors only did peripheral parts of the roads and that has not solved the needs of the people.”
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Salami Arikesola, a commercial driver, disclosed that the contractors pay the villagers working on the site meagre wages. This exploitation of the villager labour further exacerbates their already challenging living conditions and perpetuates a cycle of hardship in the community, he observed.
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Due to the locals' collective grievance, the journalist took his investigation to the palace to obtain the perspective of Olunisa of Inisa, Oba Joseph Oladunjoye Oyedele, Fasikun II on the issue. Arriving just in time after the chiefs concluded a traditional council meeting, providing him with the opportunity to obtain information from multiple sources. This was a very good timing as all the chiefs had different notions about the road. After relaying the situation of the community members to the group of chiefs, their responses were quite surprising and the contribution of a particular chief aroused suspicion.
Baale of Oke-Omo said “everything is in place, and we are working to make sure that the road construction doesn't stop. Before your arrival, we just wrapped up a meeting, and we are attempting to schedule a meeting with the governor to discuss this matter as well. Aside from that, the contractor is working and even hiring local community members to serve as a means of livelihood for them.” It could be deduced that the position of the community contrasted to the defence mechanisms put up by the chiefs in the palace.
Preliminary investigation contradicts facts at the project site
The administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola through the Ministry of Works and Transport, awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of 3.9km Inisa Township Road in Odo Otin Local Government Area to Bon Qualite Limited on 23 June, 2022, three weeks before the July 16, 2022 governorship election.
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Bon Qualite Limited, was registered on 14 June 2009 with office address at No 3, Olayiwola Street, Hallelujah Junction, Osogbo, Osun State. Prior to visiting the project site, the project contractor, Sayed Al Hage was contacted. The account of the interview, he maintained that the company’s personnel are still on ground at the project site with their machinery. He further explained the company had constructed the line drainage spanning a full stretch of the road and that 1 km portion of the road had been covered with asphalt. The claim of residents and the findings during site inspection, however, contradict the position of the contractor. Dhikirullah shed some light on the matter, explaining that after doing small and inconclusive work, some months ago, even before the Ileya festival (in June 2023), the contractors left the site and took their equipment with them. He took the reporter to the spot where the contractor uses as a construction yard, and it contained neither personnel nor machinery.
Who owns Bon Qualite Limited?
A full CAC search revealed that Sayed Nehmetelleh Al Hage and Najjar Antonios Fouad, both of Lebanese nationalities directly hold 50% of the shares each in the company making them Persons with Significant Control (PSC). According to publicly available information, Bon Qualite Limited is a holding company that provides general merchant services. The company has no known direct ties to any government officials or political parties. However, Sayed Al Hage's position as the company's Director means that he has a significant amount of control over its operations.
The Client: Osun State Ministry of Works
In the procurement document obtained by the journalist, four prequalified contractors bid for the rehabilitation of the 3.9-kilometer road, which was approved in the 2022 budget under the Osun Assets' Management Program (OAMP). The contract was eventually awarded to Bon Qualite Limited.
Several efforts have been made using the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011 to access public records relating to the construction/rehabilitation of Inisa township road but have been frustrated.
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Findings from the tender document shows that the rehabilitation project was awarded at the cost of ₦1.15bn in contrast to ₦295.55m in the approved 2022 budget under the Osun Assets’ Management Programme (OAMP). A cross examination of the approved 2022 budget and approved budget adjustment by the legislature does not justify this extrabudgetary spending.
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Violation of the State’s Procurement Act, 2015
It is also pertinent to note that the administration of the former governor, Alh. Gboyega Oyetola violated the Osun State Procurement Act of 2015 by awarding the road contract to a company registered to carry out general merchant rather than a company that was registered as a construction company.
Findings showed that there were four bidders as earlier mentioned, Rabol Unique Company Limited which is an Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) firm, Symroyal Integrated Nigeria Limited who had some time in June 2022 under direct tender method awarded a contract for the procurement of computer laptops for use of procurement officers in the ministry for the sum of ₦4,966,500 with contract ref ID, ocds-xwwr9a-014152-OS/WT/01-NG, Bon Qualite Limited and F.OT OT Construction Services. Only F.OT OT Construction Service was registered as a construction company.
Bon Qualite Limited however was registered as a general merchant to carry out the business of general contracts, imports, exports, suppliers of general goods, commission agents, general merchandise, clearing and forwarding agents. The nature of business of the company is a far cry from road construction services.
According to the Procurement Act of 2015 section 54 which states that "The procuring entity shall establish criteria to evaluate the proposals and prescribe the relative weight to be accorded to each criterion and the manner in which they are to be applied in the evaluation of: the qualification, experience, reliability ,professionalism, and managerial competence of the consultant or service provider and of the personal to be involved in providing the services."
The Act laid emphasis on evaluating bids based on the competence of bidding companies and aligning their business activities as contained in their registration with the CAC with a broader goal of ensuring that the contract is awarded to companies with the right and necessary expertise to execute the project efficiently. The administration deviated from the provision in the Act which raises concern on decision-making process and transparency. No previous road construction project can be linked to Bon Qualite Limited raising concerns on the quality and durability expected.
Attempts to get financial analysis of the payment for this project proved futile for weeks due to bureaucratic bottlenecks. Two different FOI requests were sent, one on the 24th of July 2023 and 7th of August 2023 addressed to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works and the Solicitor-General respectively requesting for the contract document including released amount for the 3.9 km rehabilitation of Inisa Township Road and the completed 3km Iresi Township Road which the ministry avoided by directing the reporter to the State Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice for necessary action. This response was issued and signed through Engr. M.A Ojebode for the PS.
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After unwavering persistence and ceaseless visits to the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Office of the Director of Highways at the Ministry of Works, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Engr Bello Idowu finally yielded to the calls of this journalist and he said that the past administration was not prudent in the use of the state’s scarce and limited resources in awarding the contract. He said, "This current administration frowns at the way the contract was initially awarded by the previous administration of Alh. Gboyega Oyetola and was reluctant to proceed with the contractor. The Inisa Township Road project is one of the five last minute road contracts awarded. Recall also, a few weeks towards the end of the Oyetola led administration, mass employment was carried out without budgetary provisions for salary payments for the new employees; even when the state is struggling to pay salaries.
Nonetheless, he noted that the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke is willing to provide all the financial resources needed to facilitate the completion of the construction project and the contractor has been issued a payment certificate to the tune of ₦820 million. As at the time of publishing this investigation, about 1 km of the road is yet to be completed and inflation has caught up with both the contractor and the current administration. The contractor laid an instance saying asphalt which was ₦81,000 is now ₦95,000 per tonne making the state government’s commitment become a tall order. Three different sources including a Chief from the palace in the town confirmed the return of the contractor back to site and took the project completion to about 60% according to the Baale of Oke Omo, but the exact time the Inisa Township road will reach 100% completion is still vague and only time will tell.
“This investigation is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Legit.ng.
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