Despite economic crunch, Fayose plans N1.9b governor’s office
In spite of the serious economic downturn and hardship facing Nigeria and its citizens, the Ekiti state government says it has concluded plans to build an ultra-modern and befitting governors’ office and high court complex in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital.
The two projects would cost a total of N1.9 billion and the government says it has already set the sum aside.
The idea was revealed by Mrs Funmi Ogun, the works and transportation commissioner for the state during an open bidding for the two projects, according to a report by Vanguard.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state
The commissioner said the projects were parts of government’s plan to boost infrastructural development and give the state a face-lift, adding that when completed, both projects would add to the existing legacy projects of the present administration in the state.
She explained that the consultants’ proposed bill for the construction of the new governor’s office is put at N687, 028, 630.63 million and that the high court complex would gulp N1, 299, 613, 897.60.
The commissioner said the state relied on the open tender system to confirm the transparency of Fayose’s government and its commitment to prudent management of the state’s lean resources.
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She said: “What we are doing today confirms the transparency of our government.
“It shows that Governor Fayose is incurably committed to giving Ekiti a face lift and make Ado Ekiti capital city a real modern city.
“Ekiti will clock 20 years on October 1, 2016 and we have to embark on projects that will make Ekiti a developing state that can compete with other capital cities in terms of infrastructure.
“The high court we are presently using was inherited from the old Ondo state and constructing a new one of our own will afford us the opportunity to put state-of-the-art equipment.”
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According to the report, the contractors that bid for the new governor’s office project included Vyouad Construction Company Limited, Tianjin Yuyang Construction Company and Goodek Ventures Limited while Grid Associates Limited and Fovak Construction Limited bid for the high court complex project.
Recall that in October 2014, Governor Fayose, through his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, described the newly built Government House in the state as a show of wickedness to the people by the immediate past governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who is now a minister in the Muhammadu Buhari government.
According to the governor then, the new government house was an act of insensitivity to the plight of Ekiti state people, many of whom cannot afford to feed once in a day.
Ekiti government house built by Fayemi
The governor had said: “The governor would have preferred to sell out the property and use the fund to provide basic amenities and employment opportunities for the people.
“The plan was for Fayemi to run government from the comfort of Oke-Ayoba government house and move from there to anywhere he wanted without the people seeing him.
“That’s also the reason he (Fayemi) refused to renovate the governor’s office, leaving it in a state of disrepair because he knew that he was not going to use the office during his second term.
Inside the government house built by Fayemi
“Also, contract for the maintenance of the property was already awarded for N150 million per annum.
“When we visited the government house for the first time yesterday, Mr Governor was like: how I wish I can sell off this place or turn it to commercial use.
“It is simply wicked for a governor to be more interested in this manner of ostentatious comfort at the expense of the people.
“The bed on which Fayemi slept before he left government alone costs over N30 million!
“That of his wife costs over N20 million!
Inside the government house built by Fayemi
“Between Fayemi and his wife, what was spent on their bedrooms, toilets and bathrooms will be in the region of N100 million.
“How can a responsible government use borrowed fund to provide this kind of luxury for the governor and his family alone in a state where a lot of people cannot afford to feed once in a day?
“People should ask the outgone governor what was really wrong with the abandoned governor’s lodge used by his (Fayemi) predecessors?
“Shouldn’t such funds expended on the hilltop edifice have been used to resuscitate the moribund textile factory in Ado-Ekiti that was turned to lock-up shops to provide employments for our teeming unemployed youths?
Inside the government house built by Fayemi
“Also, was Fayemi living in that manner of opulence before he became governor?
“Was he sleeping on a body-massaging bed and bathing in an electric controlled Jacuzzi?
“Here is Fayemi, who could not pay workers salary, owing them two months’ salary before he left.
Inside the government house built by Fayemi
“A Fayemi, who out of sheer wickedness refused to pay pensioners N2.4 billion pension and gratuities, N400 million workers leave bonus, N700 million subventions to parastatals and tertiary institutions and remit N2.4 billion four months cooperative society’s deductions from workers salary, preferring to use over N3 billion borrowed fund to provide luxury for himself, his wife and children alone.
“This is wickedness!”
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