The former Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Adegboyega Dosunmu has said that the Lekki Concessioning Company (LCC) was a scam from its conception.
Dosunmu, who was the Lagos State governorship candidate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011 election, argued that if the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola wanted value for money, it would have subjected the project to open bidding and tendering.
He criticised the concessioning of the 48-kilometre Lekki-Eti-Osa-Epe expressway during an interactive session with some journalists in Apapa, where he described the company as anti-people and fraudulent.
He wondered why the Lagos State government had “to go into 30-year concessioning agreement with Lekki Concessioning Company, which has never done anything before that project.”
He argued that the company was purely set up solely for the purpose of executing that project, noting that it was a scam from the onset due to what he ascribed to lack of due process in the manner the company got the project.
He said, “If the project was subjected to open tendering, it would not have been won by LCC. If we have a government that wants to get value for its money, it will put the project out. Companies like Julius Berger will bid.
“Other notable companies will bid. And then, you decide on the most competitive bid. What did we see? I saw a company floated by some people and then they did the agreement. Today, you have LCC to handle a 48-kilometre road.
“The project cost N50 billion. It is over N1 billion per kilometre. Is Lagos State Niger Delta? Even in Niger Delta, they can’t construct one kilometre at N1 billion. And the company will still collect tolls for 30 years. That is bondage. These are things you do not expect from any government,” Dosunmu explained.
He, also, condemned the Fashola administration’s hunger for tolling in Lekki area, citing a situation whereby three tollgates “are located within a local government area. That is not proper.
“I do not know how anybody can justify it. No person can justify it. We have one that connects Ikoyi to Lekki. We have another at Admiralty, Lekki. We have another one in front of VGC or wherever. It is like they have trapped the people. The state government has the resources. It just needs proper planning.
Dosunmu, also, faulted the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS), noting that the scheme was not designed to address the acute housing deficit, which he said the state “is currently facing.”
He explained that the administration of Alhaji Lateef Jakande created eight model cities namely; Abesan, Isolo, Amuwo-Odofin, Iba, Adeniji Adele, Ije, Iponri and Alaka between 1979 and 1983.
According to him, that is the kind of model we should replicate. That is why you see congestion in Lagos. Housing deficit in Lagos today is unbelievable. I think the government is missing the point. I think it is the lack of proper orientation.
He, therefore, argued that if these people “have the proper orientation of government; they know that government is not for profit-making. Profit making is an aberration in government. An agency of government is called Lagos Building Investment Corporation. Do you know what corporation means?
“A corporation is not supposed to make profits. LSPDC is still a corporation. The same LSPDC that Alhaji Jakande used to deliver N6, 000 flat. It is the same LSPDC that is building a flat of N52 million.
“The structure has not really changed. It shows lack of proper orientation. If you look at what philosophers said, the spirit of every organisation flows from the top. If the man at the top does not have the right orientation, that is what will go from the top down,” Dosunmu explained.
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