On Tuesday, March 9, 2004, former Osun State governor, Bisi Akande, visited tghe Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police where he made a statement. In the light of recent controversy concerning an alleged miappropriation of funds, Vanguard reproduces Akande's statement to the Police.
During the four-year tenure of my administration as the Governor of Osun State, two major policies were to govern the award of contracts:
1.No advance payments for mobilization or any other pretensions that might facilitate corruption or ‘kick-backs’ were encouraged.
2.No variation of costs would be supported on any project. We also determined not to abandon any project uncompleted. In practice, I was to learn that, in most building projects, while the contractor submitted the tender for the cost of construction works, the consultants would calculate the estimates for the Provisional Cost (PC) items which included the cost of electrical and mechanical works and, at the same time, would calculate another estimate for the preliminaries and unforeseen exigencies.
In the case of the secretariat complexes, including the governor’s office known and called ‘Bola Ige House’, the advice to me, as the governor, was to approve an imprest account (otherwise called ‘Bill One Account’) for the funding of the preliminaries and unforeseen exigencies.
The management and dis bursement of this account were to be deliberated upon, as often as possible, by a site committee of all the consultants, the contractors, representatives of the Ministries of Works and Finance and of the Governor’s office. The Permanent Secretary for General Services in the office of the Governor, who is expected to be an expert in public finance administration, was to be the Accounting Officer.
It was made clear that the process would not increase the contract sum that was already decided by the State Tenders Board and approved by the State Executive Council. In such a circumstance, it looks improbable to me that anybody could misappropriate the funds in any such imprest account. For this purpose, I was informed that an account titled “Archy Konsult Project Account” was established.
The eleven ministerial complexes were (reported) completed and commissioned in January 2003 and the ‘Bola Ige House’ was commissioned in March of the same year. Archly Konsult did a clean account for each of the eleven ministerial complexes but instead for an account to be submitted for the “Bola Ige House”, pressure was being mounted on government by the contractors and the consultants for variations on the cost.
Inspite of my repeated demands, three weeks to the expiration of the tenure of my administration, I became uncomfortable that the reports and the accounts of the project had not been submitted to enable me tidy up my handing-over reports on the project. Rather, the messy story reaching me was that the construction engineers and the quantity surveyors seemed to be at variance with the architects and that all the records were in a muddle.
The whole episode again appeared messy to me because the contractor insisted on his variation claims on construction cost for additional jobs based on consultants’ prescriptions without prior consent of government. It was messy indeed that I had to insist on having full reports and accounts and personally sought the support of the other consultants, including those on the other government projects in the State, particularly Architect Dupe Omisore and Engineer Ife Akintunde, to prevail on and assist Tropics Consult Limited to sort out the mess.
Even though I approved the contractor’s claims to cover the original mess (i.e. the unauthorised variation) payments thereto were deferred for the further consideration of the incoming government. I did so because the issue of account was necessary before variation in cost would be finalised. I can confidently say that the reports and the account of the ‘Bola Jge House’; were not ready nor placed before me up to the time I vacated the office of governor in May 2003, and therefore, I was not aware of any misappropriation of funds on the project or any other projects initiated and executed by Osun State Government during my tenure of office.
On Monday, 23rd February 2004, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State telephoned to inform me that one Lanre Ladeji was in his office ‘to confess’ that he contributed eighty-five million naira (N85m) towards my re-election as Governor in the last April election. I wondered if someone was mischievously arm-twisting somebody to blackmail me and urged Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola to desist from giving access to dubious characters to malign other people’s integrity in his office.
I strongly denied the allegation. Therefore any imputation by anybody or authority that I might be directly or remotely connected with or involved in any act of misappropriating of any fund in Osun State is hereby categorically denied.
During the four-year tenure of my administration as the Governor of Osun State, two major policies were to govern the award of contracts:
1. No advance payments for mobilization or any other pretensions that might facilitate corruption or ‘kick-backs’ were encouraged.
2. No variation of costs would be supported on any project. We also determined not to abandon any project uncompleted. In practice, I was to learn that, in most building projects, while the contractor submitted the tender for the cost of construction works, the consultants would calculate the estimates for the Provisional Cost (PC) items which included the cost of electrical and mechanical works and, at the same time, would calculate another estimate for the preliminaries and unforeseen exigencies.
In the case of the secretariat complexes, including the governor’s office known and called ‘Bola Ige House’, the advice to me, as the governor, was tso approve an imprest account (otherwise called ‘Bill One Account*) for the funding of the preliminaries and unforeseen exigencies.
The management and disbursement of this account were to be deliberated upon, as often as possible, by a site committee of all the consultants, the contractors, representatives of the Ministries of Works and Finance and of the Governor’s office. The Permanent Secretary for General Services in the office of the Governor, who is expected to be an expert in public finance administration, was to be the Accounting Officer.
It was made clear that the process would not increase the contract sum that was already decided by the State Tenders Board and approved by the State Executive Council. In such a circumstance, it looks improbable to me that anybody could misappropriate the funds in any such imprest account. For this purpose, I was informed that an account titled “Archy Konsult Project Account” was established.
The eleven ministerial complexes were (reported) completed and commissioned in January 2003 and the ‘Bola Ige House’ was commissioned in March of the same year. Archy Konsult did a clean account for each of the eleven ministerial complexes but instead of an account to be submitted for the “Bola Ige House”, pressure was being mounted on government by the contractors and the consultants for variations on the cost.
Inspite of my repeated demands, three weeks to the expiration of the tenure of my administration, I became uncomfortable that the reports and the accounts of the project had not been submitted to enable me tidy up my handing-over reports on the project. Rather, the messy story reaching me was that the construction engineers and the quantity surveyors seemed to be at variance with the architects and that all the records were in a muddle.
The whole episode again appeared messy to me because the contractor insisted on his variation claims on construction cost for additional jobs based on consultants’ prescriptions without prior consent of government. It was messy indeed that I had to insist on having full reports and accounts and personally sought the support of the other consultants, including those on the other government projects in the State, particularly Architect Dupe Omisore and Engineer Ife Akintunde, to prevail on and assist Tropics Consult Limited to sort out the mess.
Even though I approved the contractor’s claims to cover the original mess (i.e. the unauthorised variation) payments thereto were deferred for the further consideration of the incoming government. I did so because the issue of account was necessary before variation in cost would be finalised. I can confidently say that the reports and the account of the ‘Bola Jge House’ were not ready nor placed before me up to the time I vacated the office of governor in May 2003, and therefore, I was not aware of any misappropriation of funds on the project or any other projects initiated and executed by Osun State Government during my tenure of office.
On Monday, 23rd February 2004, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State telephoned to inform me that one Lanre Ladeji was in his office ‘to confess’ that he contributed eighty-five million naira (N85m) towards my re-election as Governor in the last April election. I wondered if someone was mischievously arm-twisting somebody to blackmail me and urged Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola to desist from giving access to dubious characters to malign other people’s integrity in his office.
I strongly denied the allegation. Therefore any imputation by anybody or authority that I might be directly or remotely connected with or involved in any act of misappropriating of any fund in Osun State is hereby categorically denied.
