Engineer Rotimi Illiasu, who previously served as the Commissioner of Works and Transport during the first term administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has accounted for some of the projects carried out during his tenure.

On the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD) radio program on Tuesday, Engr. Rotimi Illiasu participated as a guest speaker via a phone call to provide explanations.

ENetSuD’s monitoring process involves a radio program where government officials and politicians are questioned about transparency and accountability to ensure that public funds are utilized for the benefit of citizens.

During the program, the former Commissioner addressed various questions, including those related to the ongoing Tanke Flyover and Yebumot Adeta Oloje projects, while responding to clarify the situation.

The first question aimed to ascertain the exact contract sum for the Yebumot-Oloje-Adeta road, which is approximately 4.8km. At the time of the question, Hon. Rotimi stated that he wasn’t sure of the exact amount at the moment and would need to check his records and PC.

He emphasized the importance of not providing a figure different from the one in the contract document. Furthermore, he mentioned that he had already handed over the files in his possession to the Ministry as they were government property.

Continuing, he was asked about the bidding process for the said project, and Hon. Rotimi provided a detailed explanation of the bidding and tendering process. He clarified that the particular process adopted was restricted tendering, which allows the government to select contractors based on their track records within the state, in other states, and at the federal level.

When asked about variations paid to the contractor before he left office, he responded that no variations were paid, even though he had requested them. The contractor had received an initial payment of 30% of the contract sum, which is standard for mobilization and other purposes.

The next question inquired about the termination of the contract with JMK, the contractor at the time. Hon. Rotimi clarified that, during his tenure, the contract had not been terminated, but he had written to the contractor several times, notifying them of the intention to terminate the contract due to subpar work and slow progress.

He added that if the contractor did not meet the government’s standards for work quality, termination or revocation of the contract was inevitable.

Regarding the percentage completion of the project before he left office, he mentioned that he could not ascertain the exact completion rate at the time of the inquiry. However, he emphasized that the percentage completion was not as important as the quality of the work done on the project site, which should be the top priority.

Finally, when asked how much had been paid to the contractor before the termination, he responded that the government had paid over 50% to the contractor at that point.