The Speaker of the State of Osun House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye has assured the contractor handling the Ilesha multi-billion naira Water Project of the support of the government of the State of Osun under the leadership of Governor Gboyega Oyetola.
Rt. Hon. Owoeye gave the assurance on Thursday when he visited the site of the water project in Ilesha in order to assess the level of work done and also to allay the fears of the contractor who had earlier complained about the disruptive activities of some indigenes.
While briefing the Speaker, the Project Manager, Engr. Efosa, explained how far they’ve gone on the project and how the paucity of the fund has been affecting their activities, he said, they have written several reports for reimbursement but the federal government is yet to respond. He, however, asserted the project is ongoing while optimistic that the FG would have paid by next month.
Owoeye, however, used the opportunity to resolve the crises between the contractor and some youths in the host community who alleged that the contractor sacked some of their people and brought workers from outside the state to work on the project without any provision for qualified indigenes.
In his response to the allegations, the project manager said when there was the paucity of fund, they were forced to relieve some staff but the company is committed to bringing them back as soon as there is reimbursement.
On the allegation of engaging outsiders, the project engineer said those brought in were the company’s qualified staff while others were sourced within the state.
In his remarks, the Speaker urged Ijesha indigenes to give their total support and commitment to the success of the project because of the economic importance to Ijeshaland. He also warned the indigenes to put an end to any form of intimidation of the contractor.
Ilesha water project is 60,000 cubic meter capacity water supply cum sanitation project in Ilesha, Osun State with the support of the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The project will gulp about N48.7 billion before completion.