Awarded contracts followed due process, no secrecy, says Ekiti govt

Education non- negotiable right of every child, Oyebanji reiterates

EKITI State Government has debunked claims that the process of award of contracts lack openness and transparency, saying that award of contracts followed due process of the state procurement laws.

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, stated this, yesterday, during a roundtable media parley with the Correspondents chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ), Ekiti State Council. Olatunbosun said all road projects awarded to contractors followed due process, adding that the projects in the state were advertised before being awarded to preferred bidders.

The commissioner, who spoke on the interlink roads within the state capital, said: "We are working seriously on them but you know, government is a serious business too, and it requires planning. Considering the resources we have, we can't take everything at a time. So, it must be one after the other.”

Olatunbosun said that the reason for bringing people from Lagos to manufacture dino waste bins was to enable transfer of technology to citizens of Ekiti State and also to create job opportunities for them.

MEANWHILE, Oyebanji has declared that his administration respects education as a non- negotiable right of every Ekiti State child, promising to deploy all resources available to expand access to universal basic education.

The governor, who stated this, yesterday, during the official commissioning of a block of three classrooms and a borehole under the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGS) at Ilupeju Community Nursery and Primary School, Ikere- Ekiti, said the facilities were conceptualised to guarantee quality education through conducive teaching and learning atmosphere for pupils and teachers.

He said that his administration had invested hugely on education through policies that could shore up school enrolments and bolster the welfare of teachers.