Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has terminated multiple road construction contracts awarded during the twilight of his predecessor and political godfather’s administration, Mr. Ifeanyi Okowa.
The governor made the announcement on Thursday, June 5, 2025, during a press conference at Government House, Asaba, the State capital.
The decision, which sources within Government House confirmed on Friday June 6, 2025 affects a number of ongoing and stalled road projects across the state, many of which were awarded in the final months of Okowa’s administration.
The termination marks a significant political pivot for Oborevwori, who was widely regarded as Okowa’s protégé during the 2023 gubernatorial elections.
Hear him: “there are some contracts that we felt that have also stayed for a long time, the way it is, they are not something that we need to review, we need to repudiate them and reward them.
“And one of such contracts that we determined at today’s exco, is the contract for the construction of one particular road in Abayaragba, Ndokwa west.
“And then, of course, we have also proceeded to approve the award of that particular road to a contractor and provided 40 percent mobilization so that they can move with speed.
“We have approved the repudiation of a number of other projects with a view to enabling us to proceed with some of those jobs. One of such is the Moweh street in Ekiugbo which connects to Oteri, phase 1.
“We have also approved the repudiation of the completion of construction of Ughelli Patani Expressway in Pajama-Uliagiama in Patani.
“This particular job has also suffered, we believe that such termination will now pave way for us to give a new lease of life to the road”, he stressed.
Oborevwori has been criticized of initially continuing Okowa-era projects without thorough evaluation.
While official figures and names of contractors were concealed, the affected contracts reportedly include some multi-billion-naira road developments in Delta North, South and Central senatorial zones.
“For me to begin to tell you how much was involved, I don’t have it on my head now. As at this time, my head is already filled. Maybe if I had briefed in the morning, I would have carried it on my head”, he said.
Speaking through the State Commissioner for Works (Rural and Riverine Roads), Mr. Charles Aniagwu, confirmed that “the roads were awarded in the twilight of the last administration”.
Although he attributed repudiation to the delay and drastic cost escalation in road infrastructure projects across the State to rising inflation and the ripple effects of fuel subsidy removal announced in May 2023, it was gathered that the contractors handling these roads were incompetent.
“There has been an escalation in the prices of goods. Maybe the road contract was awarded when a bag of cement was ₦3,000, but before the contractor could even mobilize, economic conditions had changed significantly,” he said.
According to him, the approval process alone can take up to three months, from the drafting of memos to getting the Governor’s consent and the final endorsement by the State Executive Council (Exco).
During that period, inflation may have already rendered initial cost estimates obsolete.
He added that the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, had an immediate and sharp impact on market prices.
“You could have a price on the 28th of May, but by the 31st, just three days later, that price would have changed drastically because of the fuel subsidy policy,” he noted.
“The escalation in the prices of goods. Maybe the road was awarded when a bag of cement was, say, N3,000 and just before the man mobilized, because you know that when we approve, there are memos that are written.
“It could take three, four weeks or more before you could secure first, the Governor’s nod, before you could proceed to exco.
“That window may have you spend as much as one or two months and it is the same rate that you have two months ago that the memo will still carry because midway you are not just going to bring it back and change the memo.
“Now, maybe by the time the exco now approves it, it may take another two three weeks before the bidding process is completed. So, we have up to three months laps.
“So, if within that three months, the initial rate that was foreseen in putting together the memo have now become obsolete. So, you may see that you are awarding the contract at a time that the contractor may find it very difficult to proceed.
“And you know that there was a change of government. Once we came in and we could see that this rate, you what happened on May 29, 2023, the issue of fuel subsidy is gone, it triggered a whole lot of price increase in a number of days.
“So, you could have a price on the 28 of May but on 31 of that same May, the period of just three days, the price has changed on account of that policy, bold as it were.
“And so, if that contractor for that reason was not able to proceed the prices have changed and we did not have the time to be able to consider it at that time to have a review, the only thing we can do now because all the parameters have changed.
“It is possible that that job was N509 million but with what has happened the issues around the price, you will discover that that particular job may move to as much as over N1.5 billion.
“So, if you repudiate to enable you carry out proper analysis both of the contractor with the circumstances, whether you needed to increase the scope of work.
“If a contractor is unable to proceed due to these changes and we didn’t have time to formally review the contract, then the only option left is to repudiate and reassess based on current realities,” he explained.
He further emphasized that repudiating a contract does not necessarily mean termination, but a necessary step to reevaluate the contractor’s capacity, possible adjustments in the scope of work, and the actual condition of the road in question.
“If a job is awarded for reconstruction and overlay of an existing road, you must consider how much that road has further deteriorated since the initial assessment,” he said.
The remarks come amid public scrutiny over stalled road projects and rising costs of government contracts across the state.
THE STORY.
