Fejiro Oliver
On the 5th of July 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan flagged off the reconstruction and expansion works on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in a huge ceremony at the Sagamu Interchange. During his speech, Mr. Goodluck told the excited crowd that adequate funds have been provided by his government for the project.
The N167 billion project was contracted to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynolds Construction Company Ltd. The multi billion project is expected to be completed in 48 months.
“We have made adequate funds arrangement and we shall deliver our pledge on schedule. Comprehensive construction is overdue which is why we went into partnership with reputable companies. Today we are commencing the road and we shall deliver on time. We shall deliver dividends of democracy”, he said
Fact findings carried out by this reporter to see if work has commenced on the road showed that Mr. Goodluck has once again lied to Nigerians, by selling a dummy to them on the availability of funds for the project. On September 12th , 2013, the Federal Government mandated the Infrastructure Bank Plc to raise the much advertised N167 billion required for the construction of the 127 kilometer Lagos-Ibadan dual carriage way, thus contradicting his earlier claims that funds were already available to kick start the project.
The recent lies by the Goodluck led administration shows that the fund has not been raised, neither is it available, yet they have flagged off the reconstruction of the roads and awarded the contract. Nigerians who plied the road last week Friday told this reporter that there is no single tractor on the road, neither is there any work going on, two months after a huge fanfare and promises to fix the road.
Some of the respondents described this latest soap opera by Jonathan as ‘yahoo yahoo’ and a lie too many by a president. It would be recalled that Mr. Goodluck has taken to deceiving the nation on various issues as a hobby. Last year, he lied on Nigeria’s rating by Transparency International as well economic statistics, while his aides lied about his wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan illness.
