Road Construction: Ogun Pays N4bn Compensation to Homeowners

• Road Construction: Ogun Pays N4bn Compensation to Homeowners

The Ogun State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, has said that the state government has paid over N4bn as compensation to people whose buildings were demolished to pave the way for road construction across the state.

Adegbite said that out of the total of N8bn needed for compensation, homeowners in the Sango and Ojodu areas of the state would get the largest chunk of between N4bn and N5bn owing to the fact that modern buildings were demolished in the areas to allow for right of way.

He also disclosed that the state government had decided to fix all the failed portions of the Lagos-Sango-Ota-Abeokuta Road, awarded by the Federal Government to Julius Berger Construction Company, in batches.

In a statement signed by the Head of Media in the ministry, Mr. Ayokunle Ewuoso, Adegbite said the Lagos-Abeokuta Road had become embarrassing to the state government.

The commissioner was quoted to have said this while hosting members of the Ogun State House of Assembly Committee on Works and Infrastructure on an oversight function visit to his office.

He said, “The ministry has been mandated to fix permanently the tollgate axis of the road at Sango-Ota in the Ado-Odo Local Government Area of the state. The road will be designed to accommodate drainage such that it will not be problematic anymore.

“The state government had overtime continued to carry out palliative measures on that road and it has cost us so much money. So, the governor has directed that we should evolve a permanent solution that we can afford.

“Right now, we have got a mandate to fix the tollgate permanently. That is the only area we can attack for now because it is really embarrassing as we transit from Lagos to Ogun State.”

The Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Olayiwola Ojodu, said the ministry had justified the efficient use of the money so far released to it in the 2017 budget.