The Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo-led government, has reportedly uncovered how the immediate past governor, Godwin Obaseki, inflated the contract for a road project in the state.

The Edo State Assets Verification Committee discovered that the contract was increased from N8 billion to N16 billion during an inspection of the reconstruction of the Benin-Abraka Road Phase 1C.

It was revealed that the amount for the 17.5-kilometer road project was inflated three times within a year.

On May 16, 2023, the contract was awarded to Nsik Engineering Company Limited, and work commenced in September 2023.

The project manager of the construction firm, Engr. Ifiokebong Ekong, who spoke to members of the committee during the inspection, said the company was mobilized with the sum of N2.9 billion, representing 25 percent of the contract sum of N8 billion.

Ekong stated that the contract sum, which was initially N8 billion, was reviewed upwards to N12 billion in 2024, and in June 2024, it was increased to N16.4 billion.

He added that the initial completion period of the road was three and a half years; however, it was reduced to 18 months (one year and six months).

Expressing his thoughts on the revelation, a member of the subcommittee, Engr. Abass Braimah, said the increment was 100 percent.

“I don’t think there is anywhere in Nigeria or outside that a project can be awarded for N8 billion, reviewed to N12 billion, and further reviewed to N16 billion.

“Why not just review it and take the entire purse of Edo State? If we can review from N8 billion to upwards of between N12 billion and N16 billion in one year?

“What has substantially changed for you to have a 100 percent increment from N8 billion to N16 billion? Meanwhile, the job specification or contents have not changed. It is still the same thing.

“And all of these went through the Tenders Board processes. The Board must have sat down to peruse, and it was not only you who submitted documents and bid for the contract.

“Against the backdrop of several other companies that tendered, they gave you this job at N8 billion. After the job was awarded at N8 billion, they reviewed it with a 50 percent increment. Fifty percent of N8 billion is N4 billion, which increased the sum to N12 billion, and they further reviewed it to N16 billion.

“What type of games are we playing here? These are games,” he said.

The chairman of the subcommittee, Patrick Obahiagbon, said the explanation by the project manager of the company confirmed the content of a petition the committee received from some citizens of the state on the alleged inflation of the contract sum for the road project.

“The reason we have to take pains to particularly visit this site is based on a petition from Edo State citizens that we have just received.

“And the narrations of the construction firm’s project manager seem to justify the reasons and the nitty-gritty of that petition. The content of that petition was to the effect that there were massive reviews of contracts on this project because of the election.

“That the contract was colossally inflated because the outgoing governor needed money urgently and desperately to fund the September 21 governorship election.

“It makes no sense that within one year, a road contract sum would be varied from N8 billion to N12 billion and, in June, some few months before the election — maybe for election purposes— the contract sum again was varied from N12 billion to N16 billion.

“Maybe the petitioners were correct after all. If they were correct, this is an unfair deal to the people of Edo State,” he said.