The criticism being raised against the SPV handling the ongoing road construction of the Ibadan circular road has once again exposed the crass ignorance deposited in the APC as an opposition party in Oyo State. It is not beyond common knowledge that the SPV is a child of necessity borne out of the fact that the company handling the project had to securitize their assets under this new company in order to complete the projects before them as and when due
As much as I understand that an opposition party serves as a watchdog in a democracy, such must be done within the prism of logic. But, the APC has been acting in the contrary by always twisting facts and events in order to paint a bad image of the governmental activities of Engr. Seyi Makinde.
For a fact, the SPV is a conglomerate of companies taking part in the execution of a project. These companies are not strange in the business of such project, but the company handling the project had to improvise and come up with an idea of their volition in order to ensure that they beat the target time of the execution of such project.
As against the narrative being sold by APC apologists in the State that the Governor had awarded the project to another company, the company handling the Ibadan Circular Project, SEL VYDRA Ltd. sought the support of some other companies that have been in operation for long to form Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to serve as risk management entity for the project at hand.
And, it is on record that Governor Ajimobi as the face of APC in the State between 2011 and 2019, awarded 32km of this circular road project to a company at about #70bn out of which 3km was done within 3years. But, Engr. Seyi Makinde as Governor of the State awarded 110km (which is the entire 4 phases of the project) of the circular road project to a new company at #138.2bn. Meanwhile, the company, out of their wisdom, formed a driving force which is the SPV in order to deliver the first phase of the project before the end of this administration. So, bringing the Governor into the SPV debate is totally unnecessary.
It is just normal for companies to come together in order to execute a particular project. In doing this, a new platform will be registered for such purpose, and, after the execution of such project, the newly consortium could be dismantled by them. The existence of this consortium implies the bank will separate the loans from the other obligations it has with mortgage-backed securities. So, the SPV will allow the investors to receive monetary benefit before any other debtor or stakeholder of the company.
It cannot be farfetched by inference that the efforts being put in place by the APC opposition in the State is to blackmail Governor Seyi Makinde in order to cover-up the failure of the late Ajimobi to complete the project which was even awarded at an exorbitant price. However, it is worthy of note to implore the members of APC in the state to prioritize progress over partisan interests.
Kazeem Olalekan Israel (GANI) writes from Ibadan, Nigeria.
