Residents of Abata Asunkere community located in Ilorin West area of Kwara State have continued to lament how erosion is washing their homes away despite the sum of N200 million expended on its control as Saraki Constituency project.
Many of the community whose erosion destroyed their homes have since left and relocated to other places some of the residents disclosed.
In 2017, a former senator representing Kwara Central, Bukola Saraki, nominated the construction of a drainage and erosion control to the community for N100 million, supervised by the Ministry of Environment.
Parts of the project were also recaptured in the 2018 and 2019 zonal intervention projects as “ongoing” and a sum of N100 million was appropriated in each of the years, supervised by the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), a federal agency under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
A representative of Multinet Group LTD, a company that handled the contract, refused to make comment when contacted for an explanation. However, Mr. Ibrahim Olayinka, Saraki’s project director, blamed the deficiency of the project on lack of funding.
The 2017 part of the project was awarded to the contractor at the sum of N94,764,156, of which the sum of N70 million was paid. Many residents who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said the erosion control project was “poorly” executed.
MAWA Foundation learned that despite expending the sum of N100 million the situation remains worse with the erosion left more devastating than it was before the project.
Community residents say the situation has become worse, they explained that despite expending N100 million, the erosion control project seems not to have given value for money.
Many of the residents and civil society organizations in the community described the project as a scam and have called on Saraki and the Federal Ministry of Environment to give value for money.
Credit: Premium Time