By GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO – The  Osun State Executive Council has directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wale Afolabi to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over alleged scandal relating to Information Technology project to the tune of N2.5 billion between 2005 and 2011.

Briefing journalists after the 20th Executive Council meeting, held at the Executive Council Chamber, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere said that  “in the report of the investigating team set up, of which a White Paper has been presented to the council, it was discovered that the Information Communication Technology, ICT, infrastructure which was supposed to have been in place and in surplus in line with the contract said to have been awarded were nowhere to be found.”

He explained that a  single project which cost N558 million and was supposed to have been awarded to a single contractor was split into 76 uncoordinated transactions, while a sum of N441 million has been paid out on the project with 76 vouchers, despite the fact that there was nothing on ground to justify the payment.

He said: “Also in the report were series of overpayment for inflated prices which were given to a contracting firm, named MMS. Instead of making internet bandwidth to the company that handled the project, which is Sky Vision directly based on the advertised rate of the company’s website.