Group wants Yusuf Lasun probed over N1.1bn water ‘scam’

The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the N1.1 billion contract scandal allegedly involving Yusuf Lasun, deputy speaker of the house of representatives.

CSNAC is a coalition over 150 anti-corruption organisations.

Lasun was alleged to have used Nur & Company Nigeria Limited, a company he owns, to secure contracts amounting to about N1.1 billion from the federal government through the ministry of water resources.

CSNAC, in a petition signed by Olanrewaju Suraju, its chairman, wants appropriate sanctions made against the lawmaker if the allegation is found to be true.

“The contracts, which are part of the National Assembly’s Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP), otherwise known as “constituency projects,” were parts of the joint projects attracted to the state by 12 members of the national assembly from Osun State, who had been elected to the two chambers between 2011 and 2015, on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), one of the legacy parties of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” the petition addressed to Ibrahim Magu, EFCC chairman, read.

“Hon. Lasun, who represents Irepodun/Orolu/ Olorunda/Osogbo Federal Constituency, and who was then the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Water Resources, had allegedly used his position to bid and win the contract without the knowledge of his colleagues.

“According to one of the parliamentarians and now the Chief Whip of the Senate, Prof. Sola Adeyeye, the decision to execute common projects by the representatives at the time was based on the quest to make meaningful impacts on the infrastructural deficit in the state and complement the efforts of the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.”

The petition said it was Lasun who was given the assignment to link up with the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority for the execution.

It added that the total sum released for the project stood at N1,618,734,943.47, and that the situation is worse in Ife-Odan, where more than six years after the award of the contract, it was yet to produce a drop of water.

“On the whole, in the face of the above allegations, we are of the view that if same is found to be true, the aforementioned action of the Deputy Speaker is in flagrant disregard of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers and the Public Procurement Act and as such appropriate sanctions and or prosecution should be made against him to serve as a deterrent to other like-minded individuals.”