…Says allegation of contract inflation ill-informed
Osun Airport terminal
Against the background of opposition’s criticisms of the MKO Abiola International Airport, Ido Osun in Osun, the Consultant Engineer to State Government on the project Engineer Wemimo Adebajo, has revealed that the airport when completed will rank among airports with the longest runways in Nigeria.
Adebajo, during an inspection tour of facilities at the airport with journalists stated that the present site of the MKO Abiola International Airport was the first place where aviation activities took place in the whole of West Africa.
The consultant, speaking on the percentage of work done at the airport noted that government, having spent N2.7 billion out of the revised total cost of N11billion for the project, work could be said to have reached 25 percent.
He added that the West African Frontier Force was lifted from the Ido-Osun aerodrome, the present site of the MKO international Airport project during the world war II, hence the conscious effort by the state to make it the best in Nigeria if not in Africa.
He told journalists that the tour of the facilities became germane to allow journalists be adequately informed about the magnitude of the work done in order to situate the criticisms of the opposition in their proper context.
According to the Consultant, the runway of the airport waiting to be laid with 500 mm asphalt is 3.5 kilometre in length, 12.3 metres excavation and re-filling with laterite. He added that both sides of the runway are equipped ab initio with water pipes which will be the first of its kind in Nigeria.
He explained that with such a feature, the airport will have been equipped with facilities that will make emergency fire fighting readily available near the runway in case of any emergency landing or fire outbreaks.
He pointed out that though the runway has not been completed, but in case of an emergency, the runway at its present state can be used by any pilot to land an aircraft at the MKO International Airport.
“Still more to be done, I believe the airport is good for the state. The main delay right now is a question of funding and the state is seeking ways on how to make it available.
“We are approaching the Federal government for 50 percent of cost of building the airport which is Federal Government policy, right now. What the contractor is doing is site maintenance so as to ensure that when work resumes there won’t be any case of deterioration of the huge work that had already been done here.” The Airport Consultant stressed.
Adebajo also added that the Control Tower nearing completion is at the third floor of four sitting on a foundation of an excavated ground of nine metres.
He said, “A lot of work has been done, and as we go round, you will see the control tower which we have built and it is almost completed. You will see the terminal building built to the foundation, the airport fire station has reached the stage of roofing.
“The runway is going to take about 60 percent of the cost of any airport project, a lot of work has been done on the runway, there are about 8 streams in the path of the runway. It therefore became necessary to excavate and build box covets so that the water in the stream will flow unhindered under the runway.”
He explained that the essence of the facility tour of the airport with Journalists was to allow people know what the state is doing at the airport and not just respond to allegations.
“I think the State government is trying to make sure that the press, the people of the state and Nigeria as a whole are briefed on what they have actually been doing. If it was just to respond to some political allegations, you will be talking to a politician, not a technocrat like myself.
“I have actually read in the newspaper that the contract has been inflated to 15.5billion Naira which is not true, I have just told you it is 11billion Naira and if you compare this with every others in Nigeria, you will realise that the cost of this one is cheap”.
The Consultant Engineer confirmed to journalists that the airport project predated the Rauf Aregbesola administration stating that the project had since 2010 been reviewed to over N7.5 billion even before the coming of the Aregbesola administration.
In an earlier statement issued by the Government, Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon, had debunked insinuation of contract inflation, saying considering exchange rate factors, and the fact that the scope of the project was reviewed to make the airport more sophisticated than earlier projected, allegation of inflation was mischievous and misplaced.
According to Okanlawon, the Airport project had been reviewed to N7.5bn by PDP government six years ago
Okanlawon said the Government of Osun saw the allegation by the PDP in the state that it has inflated the airport project in Ido Osun by N11 Billion as mere hallucination owing to wild imaginary delusion.
In a statement, Okanlawon held that the allegation by the PDP is most inelegant and absurd, having no foundation in reason or logic.
He stated that the allegation of inflating the contract sum of the Moshood Abiola International Airport from N4.5bn to N15.5bn, is a fiction and not a fact, saying that PDP in the state has once again displayed its pettiness, mischief and crass ignorance about governance.
The statement pointed out that the said contract under the former administration of PDP more than six years ago, was reviewed from N3,967,085,161.38 to N7,512,615,918.06 stating that this alone is enough to puncture the PDP’s fabrications.
“To every reasonable critic, if a contact was reviewed to N7.5 billion as far back as 2010 to the knowledge of the Presidency and the Ministry of Aviation, does it not make sense to consider exchange rates and other factors that could be responsible for the upward review of the contract?
“But we know that PDP can only survive on lies. However, we are consoled by the fact that its lies of 16 years are in the open. Its leaders are singing at the corridors of the anti-graft agencies and it is a matter of time before those who got contracts and never executed them but have used the ill-gotten funds to intimidate the people of our state come to judgment as well just like their cohorts who are now guests of the EFCC and inmates in some of Nigerian prisons.”
Noting that the Aregbesola administration has no problem with constructive criticism from opposition, it explained that “the Job of the opposition is not to concoct lies but to provide strong criticism spiced with concrete facts”.
He held that it must be placed on record that the state’s airport project is in line with the realities of airport construction in Nigeria, citing the examples of Kebbi Airport that was built at an approximate sum of N17 billion and Bauchi’s N13 billion built about two years ago.
The statement noted that the aviation industry is changing worldwide, adding that an airport is not just about transporting air passengers alone but key in the movement of cargo.
The statement added that the MKO Abiola International Airport under construction in Osun is being built with huge economic benefits to the state in mind adding that the provision for an hanger for aircraft maintenance is part of the strategies to boost the Osun economy.
It stated that it was not of no importance when the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) called on states in Nigeria to enhance the movement of cargoes and passengers to accelerate economic development.
On the issue of jerking up the contract sum in order to allegedly embezzle the bailout loan the state got from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the statement wondered if PDP members in Osun resides in the state for them not to know how the bailout fund was handled in the state in a transparent manner.
Stating that the airport project has nothing to do with salaries or pensions in the state, the government said a project that was initiated before the coming of the Aregbesola administration cannot be reason for delay in the payment of salaries, which according to the statement, is already a settled matter given the understanding between the workers and the government.
The statement reminded PDP of the visit of the Nigerian Labour Congress’ President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba to the state workforce where he described such allegation as misleading and unfounded.
“Osun government and labour leaders came to a common ground on how the bailout funds was disbursed for the payment of backlog of workers’ salaries.
Any insinuation on abuse or misappropriation of the fund is simply the imagination of a jaundiced mind.
“The union and the state government set up a 17-man committee presently overseeing the apportionment of all revenues accruing to the state for equitable distribution to all sectors of the government for industrial harmony and effective administration of the state.” The statement emphasized.
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