The Governor of Osun State, Sen. Ademola Adeleke has ordered a full-scale probe of the $106 million Ilesa Water Project loan while also suspending the project consultant Mrs. Tawa Williams.
The governor questioned the handling of the entire project and disbursed loans seeing as there is no progress on the project despite the reported disbursement of N10 billion and another $ 28 million on the project.
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The governor, on Wednesday, speaking through his spokesman Olawale Rasheed, in a statement further explained that the project Consultant had been directed to return to the government the N70m bulletproof jeep in her possession.
Governor Adeleke’s directive was a sequel to the interim report of the State’s Assets Recovery Committee which made recommendations for immediate action to stop the further waste of loans secured to execute the Water Project.
He frowned at the alleged large-scale corruption reflected in the handling of the loans and the project, an action he regretted had denied the people of Ilesa and the environs of drinkable water.
“My administration will dig into this matter with all seriousness. The huge fund in question are loans to be repaid. We have a sacred duty to ensure accountability and transparency in the handling of the fund and the project”, Adeleke affirmed.
The Assets Recovery Committee had submitted an interim report and revealed ongoing large-scale pilfering of the procured loans while the project recorded no progress commensurate with reported expenditure.
According to the interim report of B. Salami led committee, the Islamic Development Bank agreed to fund the project to the tune of $65 million while the Federal Government provided $41.94 million.
“So far, a total of $27.073 million has been expended from the IDB loan of $65 million, leaving a balance of the sum of $37.926 million. However, from the Federal Government loan of $41.94 million which the Consultant had converted to N12 Billion, the sum of N10 Billion had been purportedly spent on the project, leaving a balance of N2 Billion”, the report posited.
The committee noted that despite the huge sums of $27.073 million and N10 Billion of the state resources (repayable loans) already spent so far, the Ilesa water project is not yet functional and the good people of Ilesa are yet to access any water.
