The African Democratic Congress candidate for Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency, Niyi Akingunola, has accused the Federal Government of breaching procurement and appropriation laws over alleged changes to the route of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway that could exclude parts of Ondo State.
Akingunola called on the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to ensure that any modification to the highway project complies with the legal requirements governing public procurement, budgetary approvals and project implementation.
In a statement issued on Monday, the ADC candidate argued that changes to an approved project’s route, design or cost should not be made without following the appropriate regulatory procedures and securing fresh approvals where required.
He maintained that the original highway design had passed through established procurement processes, including the issuance of a certificate of no objection by the Bureau of Public Procurement and approval of the project’s funding by the National Assembly.
Akingunola warned that altering the project without adhering to the relevant procedures could amount to a violation of the laws governing public expenditure.
“It is outright illegality for a procuring entity to vary a project’s design and cost in the course of projects implementation without recourse to the National Assembly that approved it in the first place,” he said.
He further argued that any proposed modification should be supported by updated technical and financial documentation before the revised project could proceed.
According to him, the process should include the preparation of a new Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation, an Environmental Impact Assessment and an updated cost estimate for submission to the Bureau of Public Procurement.
He said the documents should subsequently be transmitted to the National Assembly for fresh appropriation, where necessary, to ensure that the project remained within the boundaries of existing procurement and budgetary laws.
“Before any project modification can be allowed to succeed under any guise, and in this context, a new Bill of Engineering Measurement and Evaluation, Environmental Impact Assessment and cost estimate must be regenerated and sent to the BPP for onward transmission to the National Assembly for reappropriation; anything short of this is in its entirety a breach of the Appropriation Act and extant procurement regulations,” he added.
The dispute centres on allegations that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway’s approved alignment has been altered in a manner that could leave some areas of Ondo State outside the project route.
