Don't politicise N15.8b spent on roads by Amosun - Perm Sec warns

The Permanent Secretary of Ogun State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Engr Kayode Ademolake, has said that the Ogun State House of Assembly was in custody of records containing how the ministry, under Former Gov Ibikunle Amosun, spent N15.8b on roads in six months; warning politicians not to drag him into unnecessary politicking.

Ademolake came under serious criticisms recently after a report quoted him as saying, “the Ogun State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure had spent over N15.8bn on construction of roads in some parts of the state between January and June this year.’

Ademolake, disclosed this while hosting members of the state House of Assembly Committee on Works and Infrastructure at his office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Ademolake also revealed that the ministry expended over N216m, representing over 57 per cent of the N375m approved budget on salaries.

He said, “Apart from the N15.8bn spent on road construction, N221m was spent on recurrent expenditure out of the total budget of N435m approved for the year.

The report generated serious reactions from indigenes, causing the Ogun State government of Gov Dapo Abiodun to swiftly disown the report on Friday; thereby leaving Ademolake to himself.

The Permanent Secretary came under fire when Gov Abiodun, through his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, issued a statement saying: “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious, libelous and patently misleading publication, suggesting that the Ogun State government spent N15.8bn on the rehabilitation and construction of roads.

“The headline has misled people into believing that the cost was incurred by the present administration.

“That is not true. The amount quoted was incurred by the previous administration – between January and June this year.

“Mr Kayode Ademolake, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, who made the disclosure should have taken responsibility for this humongous expenditure as the chief accounting officer and permanent secretary while playing host to members of the Ogun House of Assembly Committee on Works.”

However, Ademolake, in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST, said all necessary documents concerning how the N15.8b was spent were with the Ogun State House of Assembly.

Ademolake expressed shock that the “whole issue is being turned into politics unnecessarily.”

According to him, the budget allocation for the Ogun State Ministry of Works, as approved by the state House of Assembly, was N51b from January to December 2019.

Out of the approved budget, Ademolake said, “N15b has been expended within January and May 29, on roads, flyover bridges (not less than 15 of such), various bridges over the rivers and housing projects.”

This, he said, represented 30 per cent performance at the middle of the year.

His words: “Necessary documents are with the House of Assembly.

“The approved budget allocation was N51b for a year (Jan – Dec 2019) and approved by the house of assembly, out of which N15b have been expended within January and May 29, on roads, flyover bridges (not less than 15 of such), various bridges over the rivers and housing projects.This represents 30 per cent performance at the middle of the year.

“The whole issue is just being turned into politics unnecessarily. I am not a politician but a professional Engineer.”