Lagos Assembly summons Council Chairman over poor execution of projects

The Lagos State House of Assembly on Tuesday summoned the Chairman, Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Alhaja Ramota Oseni, over poor execution of projects in the council.

The Chairman, House Committee On Local Government and Community Affairs, Mr Olayiwola Olawale, made the announcement during an oversight tour to the council in Lagos on Tuesday.

Olawale, representing Mushin Constituency II, also summoned the council’s Vice Chairman, council engineer, contractors and others to appear before it on April 1.

The lawmaker said the House of Assembly had invited them to explain why a project executed in 2018 had started deteriorating in less than three years.

The chairman further complained about some ongoing projects that were already fully paid for without completion, suspecting contract inflation and other irregularities.

He said: “I am not impressed with the state of things in Iba LCDA. Look at the Iba Estate Primary School project that was completed in 2018.

“Look at the state of the classrooms where children are learning, we are inviting the contractor to Alausa to come and explain to us.

“We also like to see the Vice Chairman of the council, the Procurement Officer, the Legal Officer, the Council Engineer and the contractors at Alausa on the April 1, 2021 to clarify certain things regarding some projects.”

According to him, the essence of the visit is to examine and inspect projects executed by local governments and ask questions where necessary.

Olawale said the committee was more concerned about the health and education related projects.

Responding, Oseni said that the report presented by the council engineer, Mr Wesu Medese, was not a true reflection of things as she was still new in the LCDA.

“Concerning some of the completed projects, particularly Iba Estate Primary school which was already in bad shape.

“I am not an engineer, when this project was constructed I was here to inspect it, everything was okay, other projects completed at same time are still intact.

“However, how the pupils here have managed to bring this to this state is what I don’t understand,” she said.