Residents of Oke-Ayetoro in Ile-Ife, Osun State, felt some relief when a contractor came to their community and commenced the construction of the Oke-Ayetoro road sometime in December 2022.

While there was no sign to suggest the name of the company to the residents, they sure knew the construction had the approval of the government. Which government? They could not say. But FIJ found that the contractor the residents sighted at the site was Bizerve Nigeria Limited.

As residents’ hope of seeing an already decaying road fixed in the approaching new year grew, the contractor halted the work abruptly.

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“All I know is that the company was here last year to construct the road. As an okada rider plying this route regularly, I was happy this would eliminate our years-long bad experience on the road,” a commercial motorcyclist who identified himself as Yakubu told FIJ.

Subsequent happenings about the road, however, left the motorcyclist broadly in disappointment. He told FIJ that he saw one day that the site workers had discontinued the work and left some of their belongings at the site.

“One afternoon, I was conveying a passenger to Iloro market and observed nothing was going on at the site again. I asked a woman around and she said the company had left. I was disappointed. But my immediate conclusion was that they had collected money and left the work undone. That could not have been possible without the collaboration of politicians who gave them the contract,” the motorcyclist said.

A resident speaking with FIJ on September 22 explained that she did not have the full view of how the construction workers left the site but was told some people almost fought with them when they were leaving.

“I was told that the contractor said they could not continue with the construction and wanted to leave. So, some people resisted the move and it almost resulted into a fight. But I did not hear the full details,” said a resident who identified as Tirimisiyu Akanni.

This reporter walked the whole stretch of the road, which links Oroto Street, where Opa Oranmiyan grove and shrine is situated on the right side and Oke-Soda Street up to Iloro market on the left side. At the entry point of the road from Oroto Street, there was a signpost bearing some political candidates presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last election cycle. The signpost listed the road construction and provision of solar streetlight as part of the achievements of Senator Babajide Omoworare, the former senior special adviser to ex-president Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly matters (Senate).

Connecting the words on the signpost and the construction of the road, there are strong indications that the former presidential aide and his party made use of the projects to campaign to the electorate during the 2023 elections.

Before Bizerve Nigeria Limited exited the site, it had already constructed a culvert and created drainage layouts on both sides of the neighbourhood road. We also observed that drainage concrete floor with steel bars had been done at some points.

‘THE ROAD WAS NOT AWARDED TO US’

Contrary to what the public believe, the contractor told FIJ that the road was not awarded to it by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) domiciled under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, but it did say that it was truly at the site in December.

Kayode Ariyibi, Head of Operations and Biodun Ologunagba, General Manager, at Bizerve Nigeria Limited, told FIJ that its workers were at the site in error but the residents, who were taken aback at the turn of events, insisted that the contractor had to complete the road. The residents prevented the company from packing the steel bars already at the site.

The iron bars were covered in rust and overgrown, becoming dangerous to the environment as they could harbour reptiles and even injure human beings.

In a written response to FIJ’s inquiry, Ariyibi explained that the federal agency awarded five roads to it in November 2022. When the company workers were trying to locate the roads in Ile-Ife, they wrongly commenced work at Oke-Ayetoro, a road not among the ones they were meant to construct.

“As you mentioned, the project was awarded to our company (Bizerve Nigeria Limited) in November 2022 with a total length of 1,634meters. Similarly, another road project was awarded to Tamgaj Corporate Services Limited with a total length of 1,100meters, which makes a total of 2,734 meters, that is, 2.734km to be constructed in Ile-Ife, and it was on this basis that the construction commenced,” Ariyibi explained.

Listing the roads handled by his company and their lengths, Ariyibi said “Akarabata, 680 metre; Ogbonin Lane, 260; Odo Ogbe Market, 118; Ayelabowo, 467; and Orunbado, 225”, were the specific projects the company secured from NBRRI.

He continued, “In response to your enquiry, Ayetoro road construction was discontinued because it was not part of our project purview. Orilonishe road was also discontinued due to a similar issue. From the table above, eight roads were approved for construction. Our engineers on site were on a wrong instruction, hence commenced construction of culverts and drainages on Ayetoro and Orilonishe roads, which were beyond the scope of the project.

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“On discovery of this error, we were left with no other choice but to halt the construction on these two roads to focus on the approved roads.”

‘WORKERS ALMOST LYNCHED’

Ologunagba buttressed his colleague’s clarification. He added that the company’s workers met stiff resistance from the residents, who strongly rejected their decision to vacate the site without completing the work.

“After we realised that the road was outside of our scope, the community residents believed we had to complete the road. They almost lynched our workers. They did not accept our explanation. We had no other choice than to leave without taking some of our things.

“We explained to the agency, and they said we should sort it out with the residents on our own. So, it is now unfortunate that they are dragging us into this situation.”

When asked to react to the signpost that mentioned the company as the contractor, the general manager said, “We could not have mounted a signboard at a site we had no authority to work on. I can tell you that we have no relationship with the signpost. The signpost is extremely political. We are not aware of it.”

We copied an email address listed on NBRRI’s website and sent an email to the address on October 13, but it was not responded to. A woman who identified herself as Adio answered a phone call placed through a phone number on the agency’s website, but she could not respond to our questions. She directed this reporter to visit the agency at any of its offices.

Omoworare also failed to respond to FIJ’s request for comments. He did not respond to FIJ’s phone call, SMS and WhatsApp message.

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While inspecting the constructions in the town in December 2022, however, the former lawmaker told residents that the projects would be completed early 2022. He listed some of the communities where the roads were: Obalogun, Odo-Ogbe, Orunobaado, Gbelenkan, Ayelabowo, Akarabata, Oke Ayetoro, Ogboni lane, Abewela and Orilonishe.

“I am on a tour of these sites to assure our people that these federal government interventions will be completed in record time. I want to also appeal to them to endure the little difficulties that will arise when the work is on going and cooperate with the contractors,” Omoworare told journalists.