COMMUNITY REPORT
Delta Community Indigenes Expose Attempt To Smuggle Controversial Shoddy N1.5bn Road Project On Gov Oborevwori’s List Of Soon-to-be Inaugurated Projects
Aggrieved indigenes of Ikpide-irri riverine community in Delta State have, alleged attempt to smuggle the controversial shoddily executed N1.5 billion road project awarded to Portplus Limited, a Lagos-based marine services firm, in the list of projects to be inaugurated by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to mark his one year in office.
Already, the ‘Concerned Indigenes of Ikpide-irri’, have petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) over the development which has been a contentious matter being protested by concerned indigenes of the community, including human rights groups and a pan-Isoko group, Isoko Monitoring Group (IMG), which earlier petitioned the former governor over it.
The contract was awarded by former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in 2018, despite concerns over the firm’s competence.
According to a deputy director in the Ministry of Works in the state who crave anonymity, “The project was very poorly executed, but payment was still made because the contractor is an ally of the former governor Okowa… Some sections of the road have started failing, and the contractor is mounting pressure on the state government to commission the project.
“After all efforts by community indigenes and groups to prevail on Okowa to prevail on the Lagos based marine services company, Portplus Limited, owned by his ally, some concerned indigenes of the community, have no other options but to drag the contractor to ICPC. It was the Asaba zonal office of ICPC that handled the petition. The investigation took almost two years, with engineers from federal ministry of works visiting the site to see things for themselves.
“Actually the project was very poorly executed but some of my colleagues in charge of the monitoring of the project were heavily compromised and payment was made. As we talk, we don’t know the outcome of the ICPC investigation. The ministry received several memos from ICPC.
“The Ikpide-irri kola-nut project as popularly called, was one of the worst ever executed in the state. As we talk, some sections of the road have started failing. The painful aspect of it all, is that the contractor is an indigene of the community. Presently, as I talk to you, the contractor is mounting serious pressure on the state government to list the project among projects to be commissioned by the governor to mark his one year anniversary in office.
“There is serious pressure and the pressure is tense, but the state government has vehemently refused to commission the road because it did not meet all contractual specifications.
“The current governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, is a man that does not joke with standard, he does not compromise standard unlike former governor Okowa where anything goes. Governor Oborevwori, has warned all contractors against any form of shoddy jobs and any contractor who compromised standards will not be paid and that’s why the Ikpide-irri road will not be commissioned because it’s substandard. Even the community indigenes have vowed to protest against any plan to commission the substandard project.”
It was gathered that the concerned indigenes have vowed to protest against any attempt to commission the purported substandard project, which they described as “kola-nut” due to its poor quality. A senior management staff of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) revealed that the contractor had also attempted to include the project in the commission’s budget but was rejected due to its substandard nature.
“All efforts by the contractor to have the Ikpide-irri road in the commission’s budget has failed because the commission will not be involved in such backyard business”, the source said.
A senior staff of the marine services firm, who pleaded anonymity as he was not officially authorized to speak on the issue, confirmed that the firm actually wrote to the state government to list the Ikpide-irri road project among the projects to be commissioned to mark the one year anniversary of governor Sheriff Oborevwori ‘s administration, but the state government turned down the firm’s request that the project was poorly executed.
“Please don’t quote me… But the truth is that, as you heard it, the firm actually wrote to the Delta state government to list the road among projects to be commissioned to mark the one year anniversary of governor Oborevwori.”, he said.
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