Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has approved the immediate suspension of Dr Niyi Oginni, the Executive Secretary of Osun Health Insurance Agency, OHIS, and Dr. Adebukola Olujide, the Head of the Primary Healthcare Development Board in the State.
Governor Adeleke also directed the Public Procurement Agency and other relevant government agencies to immediately kick-off the process to recover all outstanding tender fees on contract awards, JVAs, MoU to which the State government is a party in the last four years.
The suspension of the agency heads is coming after the interim report by the Niyi Owolade-led Committee on Contracts and MoU.
In a statement on Friday, December 30, 2022, made available by Rasheed Olawale, the spokesperson of the State governor, the duo were accused of gross abuse of office, mismanagement of public resources, and serial violations of agency and public service regulations and laws.
The statement, which disclosed that all the directives take immediate effect, added that the Governor announced a holistic investigation of the Public Procurement Agency (the Due Process Office) to determine the extent of its culpability in the non-remmitance of tender fees to the State treasury and contract manipulation in the last four years.
“The Committee in its recommendation had unearthed the unethical practices of the suspended heads of the OSHIA and the Primary Health Care Board as manifested in contract awards without due process, non-remittance of actual tender fee collected from contractors, contracts without value for money, like the PHCs and deliberate splitting of contracts.
“The Committee further found out that the suspended OHIS boss gave contracts to the tune of several millions of Naira to his own biological daughter and his own private Hospital in the Agency he is heading, while the Acting Career Head in the Primary Health Care lied on oath when she falsely denied knowledge of all contracts of infrastructures and supplies in the PHCs, resorting to bulk-passing and blame trading.”
Daily Post had earlier reported that the Committee on Contracts and MoU had recommended the suspension of Dr Oginni, the Executive Secretary of the Osun Health Insurance Scheme, and Dr Adebukola Olujide, the Executive Secretary of the Osun State Primary Healthcare Development Board over gross abuse of office and non-remittal of contract tenders fees.
The committee also alleged that the duo had discriminately awarded contracts to their cronies and blood relatives.
Governor Adeleke Suspends Project Consultant For $106 Million Ilesa Water Loan
Ademola Adeleke, the governor of Osun State, has directed the immediate suspension of the project consultant for the Ilesa Water Project, Tawa Williams, over questionable handling of $106 million dollar loan for the project.
The state governor, in a statement on Wednesday, December 28, 2022, by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed further ordered a full-scale probe of the entire project and disbursed loans, especially as there is no progress on the project despite reported disbursement of N10 billion and another $28 million on the project.
The governor suspended the project coordinator to allow for unhindered review of the loan administration while the Consultant was directed to return the government the N70 million bulletproof jeep in her possession.
Governor Adeleke’s directive was a sequel to the interim report of the state’s assets recovery committee chaired by Dr B. T. Salami which made recommendations for immediate action to stop the further squandering of loans secured to execute the Water Project.
Adeleke frowned at large-scale corruption reflected in the handling of the loans and the project, an action he regretted had denied people of Ilesa and the 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”, Senator Adeleke affirmed.
The Assets Recovery Committee had submitted an interim report which revealed an ongoing large-scale pilfering of the procured loans while the project recorded no progress commiserating with reported expenditure.
According to the interim report of 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 $27.073 million has been expended from the IDB loan of $65 million, leaving a balance of $37.926 million. However, from the Federal Government loan of $41.94 million which the Consultant had converted to N12 Billion, the sum of N10 Billion had been purportedly spent on the project, leaving a balance of N2 Billion”, the report posited.
The Committee noted that despite the huge sums of $27.073 million and N10 Billion of the 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.
The recommendations of the committee which Governor Adeleke endorsed are as follows:
• The suspension of the Consultant and the Project Coordinator with immediate effect;
• The government should take a second look at the process leading to the auctioning of the various water pipes across the state and the revenue which accrued therefrom;
• Given the enormity of the money involved in the Ilesa Water Project which are loans repayable by the Osun State Government both to IDB and the Federal Government, the execution of the project be probed with a view to ensuring that the state gets value for its money and that the loans are not diverted to private pockets;
• The N70 million bullet-proof project vehicle in possession of the consultant be immediately retrieved from her;
• The state government should reconcile the level of its financial exposure ($65 million and $41.94 million) on this project with other financial exposures of the state with a view to determining and/or ascertaining the total indebtedness of the state to both local and international creditors.
Source: Daily Post
