By Folayimika Akanbi
The Kwara State government has clarified that its last palliative intervention on Moro Bailey Bridge, which connects Ilorin to Igbeti in Oyo State, gulped N27million and not N1.2billion as being insinuated.
The government said the clarification became necessary following what it described as malicious campaign against the state government and the immediate past Commissioner for Works, Engr Abdulquawiy Olododo, under whose the intervention was carried out.
The Press Secretary of the state Ministry of Works, Olajide Moyo Abolarin, said in a statement issued in Ilorin that there was no iota of truth in the statement credited to one Ajibare Talks in a viral video on the amount expended on the rehabilitation project.
The statement explained that the state government has always intervened on infrastructural facilities that concern the citizens regardless of whether they are within the purview of the federal or state government.
In the statement titled “KWSG didn’t spend N1.2bn on Moro Bridge, ignore malicious claims: Ministry of Works,” the government noted that its intervention on the bridge was a temporary measure pending the completion of the ongoing construction of a new bridge in the area.
It urged members of the public to disregard the false claim, saying that the state government’s temporary intervention was done with the full knowledge of the federal government, which has the authority on the bridge.
The statement added, “As a responsive government, the administration has always intervened every time there is anything that could hurt the citizens, irrespective of whether the infrastructure involved is a federal facility like the Moro Bailey Bridge.
“However, the last palliative intervention on the said bridge gulped N27m only. It was to put the bridge back to temporary use, even as the federal government has already started the construction of a new bridge. At no time in the life of this administration did the Ministry of Works or any state government organ spend N1.2bn on such interventions.
“The claim in a viral video that the government spent N1.2bn during the stewardship of Hon. Abdulquawiy Olododo is an outright falsehood to tarnish the image of the gentleman and the administration that he served.
“The video is a sponsored attack on the government and Hon. Olododo and it was for political reasons.”
Visited 23 times, 1 visit(s) today
