Makinde Pledges to Complete Ibadan Circular Road

By Ahmed Rahma

Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, has assured that his administration will complete the 32-kilometre-stretch Ibadan circular road before his tenure ends on May 28, 2023.

In a statement released on Wednesday in Ibadan, the capital of the state, by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Taiwo Adisa, the Governor was quoted as giving the assurance during a tour of some road projects, on Tuesday evening.

Mr Makinde explained that the former company working on the project, ENL Consortium Construction Company, was sacked due to unsatisfactory slow pace of work and will be paid for part of the construction that has been worked on.

According to him, the contractor would be unable to deliver the road in another 20 years if allowed to continue at that pace.

Mr Makinde revealed that only two kilometres of the 32-kilometre road had been tarred as at the time he visited the site.

“We have an appreciation of what we need to do to ensure that this kicks-off almost immediately and then it can meet our target,” he said.

The governor explained that the road would be concession but that the government would be partly involved.

“This 32-kilometre portion must be delivered within this first tenure of this administration.

“We are still going to concession it because the previous administration left it 100 per cent to the concessionaire, which we thought was a mistake.

“We definitely will have some form of involvement of the Oyo state government with a new concessionaire.

“We will take a certain percentage for Oyo State Government and, that way, the government is carried along every step of the way.