Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has directed the immediate suspension of the project consultant for the Ilesa pater Project Tawa Williams over the handling of $106 million dollar loan for the project.
The governor in a statement by his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed further ordered full-scale probe of the entire project and disbursed loans, saying there is no progress on the project despite the reported disbursement of N10 billion and another $28million on the project.
Governor Adeleke equally suspended the project coordinator to allow for unhindered review of the loan administration while the consultant was directed to return to government the N70m bulletproof jeep allegedly in her possession.
The directive was sequel to the interim report of the State’s Assets Recovery Committee chaired by Dr Basiru Salami which made recommendations for immediate action to stop further squandering of loans secured to execute the water project.
Adeleke, the statement said, frowned at large-scale corruption reflected in the handling of the loans and the project, an action he regretted has denied the people of Ilesa and 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 which alleged large-scale pilfering of the procured loans while the project recorded no progress commensurate with reported expenditure.
According to the interim report of the 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 $27.073million has been expended from the IDB loan of $65million, leaving a balance of the sum of $37.926million. However, from the Federal Government loan of $41.94million which the consultant had converted to N12 billion, the sum of N10billion had been purportedly spent on the project, leaving a balance of N2billion,” the report posited.
The committee noted that despite the huge sums of $27.073million and N10billion of 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.
