We are not responsible for the delay of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway – Oyo Govt.

The Oyo State Government has denied claims by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, that it was responsible for the delay of the road reconstruction along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Recall that Fashola was reported to have claimed at the Ministerial Performance Review Retreat of this administration in Abuja that the drainage channel built by the state had slowed down work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The minister of works and housing said “the Oyo state government is building a drainage channel across the road, so we are having difficulties because the contractor has slowed down and we have to slow down too.”

According to the Oyo government, the claim by Fashola that the drainage channel built by the state had slowed down was far from the fact of the matter. The state government said in a statement that Fashola did not have the facts and was expected to have reached out to the administration first.

It however noted that construction work is in progress on the 22km stretch of the Lagos -Ibadan Express Road between the old Tollgate Ibadan – Ojoo.

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In the statement, the Oyo state government said “our attention has been drawn to the claim by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), that the Oyo State government is responsible for the non-completion of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project. It is imperative to set records straight as a government committed to ensuring that the good people of Oyo State enjoy the dividends of good governance.

“Firstly, we need to clarify that two major projects, the dualization of the 8.2km Agodi Gate – Old Ife -Adegbayi Junction Road and a few projects under the World Bank-assisted Ibadan Urban Flood Management Project to interface with the 127.6 km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project at CH 115-117, CH 117 and CH 125. In real terms, this stretch is less than three kilometres.

“Secondly, we would have expected that the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing would have reached out to us to find out how long we would need to complete the aforementioned projects being that Oyo State has been in communication with the ministry.

“Just about a year ago, we had requested permission from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (through the Director of Federal Highways) to dualize the underpass at CH 115 -117. We were advised to make sure that the diversion routes are completed before embarking on the diversion. We complied 100%,” the state government noted.