The Oyo State Government disputes the assertion made by Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, that the state’s drainage channel construction has held down the repair of the road along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The minister made these remarks in Abuja presenting the scorecard of President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Fashola had been quoted to have said, “The Oyo State Government is building a drainage channel across the road, so we are having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down and we have to slow down too.”
In contrast, the Oyo State Government claimed in a statement on Monday that Fashola lacked the information and ought to have contacted the administration first.
The statement read partly, “Our attention has been drawn to the claim by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), that the Oyo State government is responsible for the non-completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project. It is imperative to set records straight as a government committed to ensuring that the good people of Oyo State enjoy the dividends of good governance.
“Firstly, we need to clarify that two major projects, the dualisation of the 8.2km Agodi Gate – Old Ife -Adegbayi Junction Road and a few projects under the World Bank-assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project to interface with the 127.6 km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project at CH 115-117, CH 117 and CH 125. In real terms, this stretch is less than three kilometres.
“Secondly, we would have expected that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing would have reached out to us to find out how long we would need to complete the aforementioned projects being that Oyo State has been in communication with the ministry.
“Just about a year ago, we had requested permission from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (through the Director of Federal Highways) to dualise the underpass at CH 115 -117. We were advised to make sure that the diversion routes are completed before embarking on the diversion. We complied 100%.”
The majority of the 22 km of the Lagos-Ibadan Express Road between the old Tollgate in Ibadan and Ojoo was defined by the state government as a work in progress.
