Oyo approves reconstruction of 45.3km Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho road for N8.7bn

• to install 58 Motorized Boreholes across 33LGs
• grants semi-autonomy status to four hospitals to fast-track healthcare delivery

Oyo State Government, on Wednesday, announced approval for the reconstruction of 45.3 kilometre Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho road at the cost of Eight Billion, Seven Million, Four Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand, Eight Hundred and Sixty-Two Naira, Seventy-Two Kobo Only (N8,700,456,862.72k).

The Executive Council also approved the installation of 58 Motorized Boreholes across the 33 Local Government Councils of the state at the cost of Three Hundred and Twelve Million, Two Hundred and Two Thousand, Nine Hundred Naira only (N312,202,900).

While briefing newsmen on the outcome of the 28th Oyo State Executive Council meeting held at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan, on Tuesday, the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Hon. Muyiwa Ojekunle, said that the contract for the road was awarded to Messrs China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the project was awarded under the Alternative Project Funding Approach (APFA), which would see the contractor initially execute the project with its funds, while the state will pay back through scheduled repayments.

The project, according to the statement, would be completed within 18 months.

The Commissioner said: “The Council approved the reconstruction of the 45.3km road from Saki to Ogbooro down to Igboho through APFA. This approach offers several advantages over the traditional payment method.

“All of us are aware of the condition we are, in Nigeria today. The allocation to the state has reduced and what we are receiving cannot be compared to what the past administration collected. So, the government decided to use this method, which we see is helping us.

“We are aware that the governor has decided to build his agenda on four pillars. This one is infrastructure because he links all his projects to the other. Once the road is rehabilitated, we will have a way of bringing our food to the main markets, because most of these foods are from a part of Oke-Ogun. And the governor has proven that all that he is doing is not centralized in one zone.

“The contract is awarded to Messrs CCECC Nigeria Limited at a sum of 8,700,456,862.72 only. And this project, as approved, will last between the duration of 18 months on a design, bill and finance basis in line with the implementation and agreement modality as presented.

“So, once the date of the award is given, the contractor will be paid Just 20 per cent. You can see the achievement of this and, subsequently, the money will be paid from the statutory allocation based on its performance. That is why we said it has more advantages than the other method.”

In another development, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Abdul-Lateef Oyeleke, said the contract for the installation of the boreholes was initially awarded by the previous administration and was revoked because of the inadequacies, lack of transparency, fairness, and accountability that was noticed in the award.

Oyeleke said: “At the State Executive Council meeting that was held yesterday, 13th October 2020, we approved the installation of 58 motorised boreholes across the 33 local governments in the state. It is important to remark that this contract was awarded by the previous administration, and it was subsequently revoked because of inadequacies, lack of transparency, fairness, and accountability that was noticed in the award of the contract.

“The total sum for this contract is N312,202,900 only and it cuts across the entire local governments within the state and it is expected that this contract will be concluded within six months of this approval.”

Similarly, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatunbosun, hinted that the State Executive Council approved semi-autonomy for four secondary hospitals as the pilot scheme for quality health care delivery in the state.

The hospitals include: Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Ibadan; Ring Road State Hospital, Ibadan; State Hospital, Oyo; and the newly commissioned Saki Specialist Hospital, Saki.

He said there will be a monitoring committee that will monitor the autonomy of these hospitals and that the committee, which will comprise representatives of the Ministries of Health, Finance, Hospital Management Board, Office of Accountant General and Auditor-General, Civil Service Commission, Head of Service, will be set up to midwife and ensure technical support for these initiatives.

He added that the council directed the Ministry of Justice to prepare an amendment bill to existing Oyo State Hospital Management Law, to reflect the new semi-autonomy initiative, noting that the bill will be forwarded as an executive bill to the House of Assembly for appropriate legal backing.

“In a memorandum of the Ministry of Health, as regards the secondary health care facilities for quality health care delivery in the state, the Oyo State Executive Council, after the presentation, realized that the state had gone through a myriad of challenges, which resulted in poor service delivery, weak coordination as well as feeble monitoring and supervisory system before the advent of this government.

“However, to ensure a paradigm shift to a more pragmatic approach towards effective health care as envisioned by the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, the state government believes that there is a need to look into how we can give this state secondary health facilities an autonomy, which will make them perform and serve the people of Oyo State better. And I want to state that it is semi-autonomy.

“So, the prayers that we approved include the following: That the Ministry of Health, after the due process (because this bill will have to go to the Oyo State House of Assembly), should commence semi-autonomy status for the selected hospitals. We approved four secondary hospitals for the pilot scheme, including Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Ibadan; Ring Road State Hospital, Ibadan; State Hospital, Oyo; and newly commissioned Saki Specialist Hospital, Saki, Oke-Ogun.

“All these four hospitals will be used as a pilot scheme. We believe that after this and when we review it after a year and we realize that it works perfectly well, we will now consider how we can implement it to all general hospitals in the state.”