Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Of great irony to a disillusioned Oko community, was that while residents in this abandoned area of town were making personal sacrifices to fix their road, another construction, reportedly funded by the Federal/Edo State Governments was taking place nearby. Residents told our reporter that the road construction is under a World Bank/EU assisted program, the State Employment and Expenditure for Results project (SEEFOR). They alleged that the only reason why government’s attention is focused on that road, instead of the one leading to and from the Federal Prisons and the Police Station is because it is home to a key government functionary. Our reporter who visited this street off the Oko ADP road said that there was evidence of a coordinated effort at construction. Workers kept sealed lips when asked to identify the key government official resident on the street. Information available on the SEEFOR website indicates that its project has two components, A & B.
Its bizarre story begins at the beginning of the road. Some years ago, ex-Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State awarded a contract for the construction of the ADP Oko road, aka New Layout Estate in Benin City, leading straight to the Federal Prisons from the police station.
The acronym, ADP stands for Agricultural Development Program of the government located on that road which has over the years come to symbolize Oko.
At the same time the road contract was awarded, the one leading to the Irhirhi Estate Gate was also awarded. Investigations reveal that while the Irhirhi road was eventually tarred, the one that led to the Police Station, the Federal Agricultural Prison Farms, and leading straight to Ekewan road was not. Allegations were rife that the contractor who was awarded the contract made away with the monies.
Adams Oshiomhole went after the erring contractor and apprehended him. He pleaded with, and begged party chieftains to help get him off the hook.
As the story went, he was indeed let off the hook on the condition that he will have to come up with a certain sum that we cannot immediately confirm, together with contributions from residents of the Oko Community, while the outgoing government of Adams Oshiomhole would make up the difference for the construction of the Oko ADP road.
According to Alltimepost.com investigation, this plan never saw the light of the day. The governor’s tenure had ended and he handed over to his successor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.
For over three years after Adams Oshiomhole climbed down from the saddle of power, residents and other users of the road have suffered. Car owners visit their mechanics every week, while those without cars resort to tricycles, aka Kekenapeps to get to their respective destinations.
The Oko ADP road is home to the crème de la crème of Benin City – big business people, top government officials and erudite intellectuals. Residents who spoke to Alltimepost.com reporter said that only three months ago, the hearts and spirits of residents were lifted over the road.
A news report said that the Federal government had awarded a contract to expand the Benin Airport and that it would begin to work 24 hours as a cargo terminal.
Subsequently, there were rumors that the Godwin Obaseki government had awarded the contract for the Oko ADP Road owing to a certain vehicle that plied that road every now and then.
Fitted with Google earth apparatuses, residents said that the vehicle took geo-spatial pictures, seemingly ready to prepare the place for the road to be constructed.
But residents have waited in vain. Most of them have resorted to self-help. Tricycle owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), have gotten together to do something about the road. Their modest efforts get washed off whenever the rains come. At other times as well, certain residents have gotten together to grade the road, at least to make it motorable.
Hardest hit are residents directly behind the Benin Airport, and near the Federal Prison Farm Complex. They told this reporter that effluent from the airport has created a mini-waterfall that has cut them off from the main road.
Consequently, in a meeting of property owners in that area held on the last Saturday in March, this year, they decided to do something about the road.
“We had to levy ourselves twenty thousand naira each. This was after we had made many attempts to get our government to assist us,” Pa Edionwere told Alltimepost.com.
At that meeting, residents living in the US and the UK and who have houses in that community pleaded with their fellow property owners to come together to make contributions which they promised to augment.
“We must come together and help ourselves because it looks as if the government has abandoned us to ourselves. I live in the UK and I live here just one month or so before I return to enjoy the good life abroad. But how can we leave this road like this?” one of the diasporans who begged for anonymity asked.
Altogether residents raised close to N300, 000.00 (three hundred thousand naira). Work on revamping the road had started when our reporter got to the scene. At the work site, residents were seen going back and forth carrying buckets of mixed concrete and generally carrying out engineering work on their own.
“I do not understand why the government has abandoned us even though we trooped out en mass to vote in the last elections. Here you find the airport, the police station and the Federal Prisons.
“Yet this road leading all the way to Ekewan road, a commercial center of Benin has been abandoned. There are no health centers here, no public schools here, and no town hall and there are no recreational centers. When our wives are in labor, we are usually in trouble and struggle to get to the main road from here,’ a resident Mr. Alli said to our reporter.
Of great irony to a disillusioned Oko community, was that while residents in this abandoned area of town were making personal sacrifices to fix their road, another construction, reportedly funded by the Federal/Edo State Governments was taking place nearby.
Residents told our reporter that the road construction is under a World Bank/EU assisted program, the State Employment and Expenditure for Results project (SEEFOR).
They alleged that the only reason why government’s attention is focused on that road, instead of the one leading to and from the Federal Prisons and the Police Station is because it is home to a key government functionary.
Our reporter who visited this street off the Oko ADP road said that there was evidence of a coordinated effort at construction. Workers kept sealed lips when asked to identify the key government official resident on the street. Information available on the SEEFOR website indicates that its project has two components, A & B.
Under the A component the SEEFOR claims to have assisted 9,695 youths through public works contracts, awarded 125 contracts for public works and has helped 160,163 people to benefit from grants for Community Driven Developments amongst other achievements.
For component B, the SEEFOR project claims inter alia, to have used modern Standard Bidding Documents (SBDs) for 100% of contracts over the threshold limits, increased internally generated revenue and implemented 3-5 key modules of SIFIMIS (budget, purchasing, general ledger, accounts payable, HRMIS and Payroll).
Yet as laudable as these achievements appear, residents say they cannot understand why a major road in Benin City has been abandoned in favor of the one apparently occupied by a key government official. The street under construction has no street sign, but it is also home to a big church, called Dominion Assembly.
Information on Edo SEEFOR site said that on May 26, 2018, World Bank country director, Rachid Benmassoud visited the Abbatoire in Ikpoba Slope and the Prisons on Sapele Road in Benin city.
Just a month after, Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Hon Zainab Ahmed visited the Edo State SEEFOR, with a team of National Planning, to coordinate and supervise SEEFOR projects in Edo state.
On April 4, 2018, the Edo SEEFOR flagged off the commencement of the construction/rehabilitation of 59 roads spread across the state.
Why was the Oko ADP road not on any one of the itinerary of the World Bank country director, Mr. Benmassoud and the Minister of State for National Planning?
“We are law-abiding Edo citizens who pay our taxes and we do not deserve to be treated this way,” secretary of the landowners association in the abandoned area, Mr. Uwaifo told our reporter.
We could not reach SEEFOR Edo state director, Toju Onaiwu, at the time of going to press. Previous attempts at reaching Mr. Osarodion Ogie, Secretary to Edo State government have been unsuccessful.
The Edo state government recently received an award from an NGO in Benin as one, which champions openness and inclusivity in governance. Even though that award was mired by an unfortunate controversy, it thrusts the state government forward as one promoting transparency and accountability and fairness in the conduct of government business.
To effectively establish itself indeed as a purveyor of good governance, the Edo government must move its bulldozers and earthmovers quickly onto the Oko ADP road right away.
Bob MajiriOghene is the founder of Bob MajiriOghene Communications, an investigative and environment journalism agency and publishers of Pathways for Development Communicators. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MPZS3V5 +2348156171133, +2349092194428 majirioghene@yahoo.com
