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Abia State government has said that the member representing Aba South State Constituency in the House of Assembly, Obinna Ichita is merely advertising his crass ignorance following the viral letter he recently wrote to the state governor.
A national newspaper had reported that Ichita through a law firm, Adulbert Legal Services, led by his counsel, Aloy Ejimakor in a letter dated February 28, 2023 requested the state government led by Ikpeazu to furnish him with important information on financing of notable projects in his constituency.
Ichita through Ejimakor demanded “The accounting details of how the Government of Abia State spent the N274 billion or the equivalent sum in dollar which the government of Abia State had received in full from the World Bank for road construction and erosion control projects in Aba specifically Port-Harcourt Road, Uratta Road, Obohia Road, Ohanku Road and Ngwa Road. The name and business address(es) of the contractors that executed any of the projects mentioned in the preceding paragraph; and copies of the contract awards documents and the cost of the execution of each project.”
In the letter, Ejimakor stated that Ichita made the request for information in pursuant to the provisions of Freedom of Information Act, which requires compliance within strict deadlines and demanded the governor’s timely response.
Abia State government in a statement by the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Chris Ezem urged Ichita, to get himself acquainted with the topic he wrote letter on, as everything he said showed high level ignorance on the issue he talked about.
He said that Abia government did not receive any such stated sum by Ichita from the World Bank for road construction and erosion control projects in Aba, specifically Port Harcourt Road, Uratta Road, Obohia Road, Ohanku Road and Ngwa Road.
“Your client being a principal officer of Abia State House of Assembly which has performed oversight function over several activities in the state should know better or at least should have made his investigations well before his hurried ejaculation. At this juncture it will be right to stop the response until his question is put correctly but to show him that there are no skeletons in the cupboard and to prove that he is merely advertising his crass ignorance, let me educate you both on the true state of the project in question.
“The contract was for the ‘Construction of Flood Mitigation Measures at Uratta and Umuagbai Flood Plains in Aba Municipality.’ The contract was awarded to Messrs Hartland Nig Limited/NBHH JV of 23 House 24, Usman Halilu Street, Life camp, Abuja after a rigorous International Competitive Bidding process supervised by the highest procurement committee of the World Bank at Washington DC, at the value of N27.4billion. The contract was signed on 30th April 2020. At the NAFEX exchange rate of $1 to N413 this contract sum was $66,394,939. The site was handed over to the contractor in the first week of June 2020 and the contract duration was 30 months from the time of site take over,” Ezem replied Ejimakor.
The SSG added that the scope of works was for underground box culverts from Uratta pond through Port Harcourt Road, then along Ngwa Road and Obohia road to discharge storm water into Aba River at the end of Ngwa Road, and for the reconstruction of Obohia and Ngwa Roads after the box culvert works.
