By Mudiaga Affe
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, has said he is in support of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s probe of the N30 billion Benin storm water project initiated during the administration of a former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole.
Governor Obaseki had during the inspection of the Textile Mill Road catchment of the project on February 22 said the storm water project was a ploy to defraud the Edo people. The Governor went further to accuse Agba of his role in supervising the N30 billion project when he was Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities under the Oshiomhole administration. He subsequently promised to probe the implementation of the project and recover money that may have been stolen in the course of its implementation.
However, in a leaked memo to the governor titled: “Unnecessary controversy on the Benin City storm water projects,” dated February 26, exclusively obtained on Saturday by THISNIGERIA, Agba said the probe would enable all participants in the project to state their side of the story for posterity’s sake.
“Your Excellency, please rest assured that I wholeheartedly welcome and support your widely publicised decision to institute a probe panel to look into the Storm water project, though you have already assumed the roles of the accuser, prosecutor, and judge on the issue.
APC dares Obaseki, welcomes probe of Oshiomhole on N30bn project
‘N30bn scam’: Security operatives foil plot to burn Edo govt property
Photos: Security operatives foil plot to burn Edo govt property
“It is a welcome development as all Ministries, Consultants and all other participants in the project would have an opportunity to state their side of the story for posterity’s sake. “I make bold to say that I am proud of the role the Ministry of Environment played in the storm water project and I am always available to defend my role as the Commissioner of the Ministry on this and any other project that I handled in the course of my service to Edo people,” Mr Agba stated.
Agba expressed shock in his memo that Governor Obaseki gave a wrong impression that N30 billion was the expenditure on the project, whereas only N22 billion was paid to the contractor as of the expiration of that administration. He said, “Further to the foregoing, I was also taken aback by the N30 billion you peddled as expenditure on the project. You know, and I dare say without any fear of contradiction, that this is not only false but also outlandishly erroneous, misleading, and patently mischievous.
“As the then Chairman of the Edo State Economic Team, you were privy to the conception, planning, execution, and expenditure on the project. “Also, Your Excellency cannot claim to not know that only the sum of N22 billion had been paid to the contractor for seventy percent of the project delivered before you took over as governor and that by a resolution by the State Executive Council, the Commissioner for Finance was mandated to make payments directly to contractors for all projects of the Government.
“I was therefore surprised at your decision to call me out on the expenditure of N30 billion on the Benin Stormwater project knowing fully well that I neither expended such money, nor did I have any mandate to authorise payments as the funds were not domiciled in the Ministry of Environment.”
