By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
Ogun State Government has disclosed that the abandoned Ogun State City Centre (OSCC) project within the Abeokuta Central Business District (ACBD) opposite the popular Iweiroyin House, Okelewo is being scrutinized by relevant federal agencies.
The Daily Crucible reports that the location housing the OSCC used to be a part of the old Secretariat of the State government until it gave way to the imposing structure during the twilight of Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s administration.
The project was said said to be conceived to accommodate a shopping mall, a banking facility, hotel, amphitheatre and service apartment. It was also billed to be a private sector-driven initiative.
The Centre was equally expected at the time to host the central station for the Federal Government’s rail project.
Estimated to be the second largest Centre or shopping mall in the country after the type in Alausa area of Lagos State when completed, work stopped at the site hours to Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s hand over to the then incoming Governor Dapo Abiodun in 2019.
The first and last public function that took place within the abandoned facility was probably Amosun’s elaborate exit ceremony on May 28, 2019, which among other dignitaries, attracted the nation’s big names in the Yoruba movie industry, including Rachel Oniga, before she passed on.
However, fielding questions from newsmen while addressing a press conference inside Chief Olusegun Osoba Press Centre Abeokuta on Thursday, June 27, the State Commissioner for Housing, Alhaji Jamiu Akande Omoniyi, disclosed that many things about the project “are shrouded in secrecy” to a degree that the present administration has not been able to decipher them in the last five years.
Omoniyi also disclosed that the anti – graft agencies – the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), “are already looking into it.”
He, therefore, declined further comment on it, citing the EFCC and ICPC’s attention on the matter as a reason for the decision.
Omoniyi said, “Those projects, the anti – graft agencies are looking into it. They are shrouded in so many secrecy that we’re not able to ascertain since we came on board. I know what you are talking about. So, a matter that is with ICPC and EFCC I think I don’t comment on it …”
