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On the 16th of April, 2020, just as the Covid-19 virus hit Nineteen (19) people in Lagos, the sum of N87 million (N87,095,238.10) hit the account of Soonau Engineering Limited, a Lagos-based company.
February 25th, 2024
On the 16th of April, 2020, just as the Covid-19 virus hit Nineteen (19) people in Lagos, the sum of N87 million (N87,095,238.10) hit the account of Soonau Engineering Limited, a Lagos-based company.
The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing had paid the sum to the company to construct a road in Omu-Aran, Kwara state.
A section of the road Nigeria’s minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammad printed as the ‘facilitator’. Photo Credit: Samad Uthman/ Dataphyte
Earlier, the ministry paid over N45 million (N45,406,347.66) to the same company for the same project on the 6th of December, 2019. The two payments total N132.5 million (N132,501,585.76).
Records in the Federal Government’s Open Treasury Portal (OTP) revealed that the road, named after the late king of the town, Oba Charles Oladele, is in Irepodun Local Government Area of the state.
The OTP is the Nigerian government’s daily publication of all payments by its agencies for contracts valued higher than N5 million, with a detailed description of each payment and payee.
As at the time of this report, the status of the road construction project in the budget documents read “Ongoing”.
Dataphyte could not verify when exactly the project was initiated. But further checks revealed that in the 2019 budget, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing budgeted a total of N122.5 million (N122,523,030) for the road project.
Checks reveal that another N107 million (N107,160,000) was budgeted in the 2020 budget of the same Ministry.
As against what was obtainable in the budget documents, which read ongoing, a visit by this reporter to the site exposed a signpost that reads the project was facilitated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Muhammad’. The signpost was also placed strategically on a T-junction in Omu Aran Kwara state.
Although Lai Mohammed is not an elected representative in the Nigerian cabinet, he is currently Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, a position he has held since 2015.
Oro, which happens to be his hometown, is 29.7 kilometers from Omu aran.
The signpost showing Lai Muhammad as the facilitator of a road project in his state despite records showing that the road was constructed with taxpayers money. Photo Credit: Samad Uthman/ Dataphyte
According to a food vendor on the road, Aisha Aliyu, the road construction was completed “ late last year and we have been enjoying it compared to when it was a dust field”.
“I remember when this road was not tarred, during the rainy season, we would not be able to pass, during the dry season, it is always not in good shape too, But Alhaji Lai has been helpful for us. He is our son” a commercial motorcyclist, Hakeem, who conveyed this reporter around the community said
While Dataphyte’s checks of the OTP and the budget have revealed that the road construction is purely funded by the Federal Government with taxpayers money, political commentators and fact-checkers who are familiar with the Kwara state politics noted the situation as a means of self-aggrandizement by the minister to show he is representing his people well on the President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet.
Niyi Oyedeji, a fact check expert and an investigative journalist at the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) nailed the act by the minister as “nothing but misrepresentation of facts. These politicians, with my experience of reporting, they can go any length to lie and wrongly prove to their people that they are working”.
He added that “I understand the politics in Kwara. The minister and the Governor are at each other’s throats. The minister must possibly have influenced the approval of the project for the people and for the political expediency, published his name as the facilitator to show his people his representation of them”
Festus Ogun, a constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, while describing the action of the minister as a projection of false information, hinted that the minister has also tampered with his constitutional duty by facilitating a project outside the walls of his ministry.
“It is not supported by any living law in this country. In a federal system like ours, the duty of the minister is limited to the four walls of the ministry administered or supervised except as otherwise directed by the President. Nothing in Sections 147, 148 and 149 of the Constitution supports the arbitrary facilitation of a project by a minister in a different ministry other than the one under his watch”
The lawyer added that “Section 15(5) of our Constitution makes it a duty of the government to be intolerant of corrupt practices. Clearly, this cross border facilitation of projects is capable of breeding corruption. For an administration led by a supposed anti-corruption crusader, this is a crying shame. It is very suspicious and must be thoroughly investigated. There can be no smoke without fire. The ‘anyhowness’ prevalent in President Buhari administration should give us all a reason to worry”
Lai Muhammad has been embroiled in many ‘lies’ aimed at shooting the image of his principal and government in good light.
On June 28, 2017, a local blog reviewed (here) 50 different occasions the minister has misinformed the public. The 50 lies toiled the minister’s speeches right from when he speaks for Buhari’s campaigns.
On October 31, 2019, Dubawa, a west African fact-checking platform, fact-checked (here) 7 claims of Lai. But 6 out of the 7 are spotted to be lies.
On October 18, 2019, in Lagos at a meeting with online publishers, Lai Muhammad restated (here) that the Buhari government’s readiness to punish purveyors of fake news and hate speech. The minister had on October 10, 2019, announced President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of the review of the National Broadcasting Code and extant broadcasting laws to reflect stiffer penalties for violators of broadcasting regulations.
While Soonau Engineering Limited has no public line, this reporter placed several phone calls to the minister, he did not answer nor did he return an SMS requesting for his comment on this story.
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On the 16th of April, 2020, just as the Covid-19 virus hit Nineteen (19) people in Lagos, the sum of N87 million (N87,095,238.10) hit the account of Soonau Engineering Limited, a Lagos-based company.
