Ibadan Circular Road is yet another gain, filling the gap in infrastructural deficit in a country where such deficit is in gross imbalance to the population pressure and needs. Hardly do administrators consider such infrastructures such as roads, rail, hospitals etc as impetus for national growth and capital formation.
The age of revenue drive has finally dawned on most of the world’s developing economies which now intensely focus on capital formation rather than consumptive expenditure. Nigeria is no exemption as the nation still awaits a paradigm shift that will launch the nation into the right trajectory of growth.
A situation where the gross national expenditure is excessive and devoid of gross capital formation or domestic investment for a robust Gross Domestic Product is undesirable and needs attention.
In 1995, Ibadan Circular was conceived to restructure the city of Ibadan which was growing at a rate that called for attention. Many peripheral neighbourhoods were becoming inaccessible, facing blight on arrival. Ibadan city economy is still dominated by the informal sector with unsightly encroachment and migration of slums to virgin lands on the outskirts. The peripheral economy needed to be enhanced and integrated with the main city economy through a superhighway like the Circular Road. This is expected to restructure the physical Ibadan and its economy through re-capitalisation that would make her a city of self-economy.
In his recent submission on the Public Expenditure Review Report during the May 28th 2023 Presidential Inauguration lecture. Dr Akinwumi Adesina said: “To meet Nigeria’s massive infrastructure needs, according to the report, will require US$3 trillion by 2050. According to the report, at the current rate, it would take Nigeria 300 years to provide its minimum level of 2050. According to the report, at the current rate, it would take Nigeria 300 years to provide its minimum level of infrastructure needed for development. Living Nigerians today, and many generations to come, will be long gone by then! We must change this. Nigeria must rely more on the private sector for infrastructure development, to reduce fiscal burdens on the government”.
The World Bank Business Reports In 2018 scored Oyo State 53.41 per cent in the Ease of Doing Business index. This is encouraging with the Circular Road contributing an input into that score when it comes to urban area investment through the private sector initiative.
Ibadan Circular Road was conceived by me in 1995 during the military government of Gen. Sani Abacha and was approved by him in principle in 1996 through Col. Chinyere Nwosu, the Military Administrator of Oyo State. The concept was celebrated by all and sundry at home and abroad. As the director of Messrs Geofocus Co Ltd, I initiated it by conceptualizing it and reiterating its real time existence around the extent of Ibadan’s physical development since 1990 through intensive reconnaissance and private survey exercises. In 1990, available land stretch round Ibadan was about 72 KM in length due to city expansion. A resurvey in 1993 found an actionable stretch to be 85KM. When the length was approaching 100KM in 1995, Geofocus, through two of our directors led by Dr Ayo Adekunle decided to approach the Military Administrator of the State Col Chinyere Nwosu about the need for the survey and planning intervention for the ever expanding city of Ibadan. He secured the approval with the then Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha. Since then, yearly budgets had continued to be provided for the Right-of-Way survey to be carried out by us to establish it on the ground. We continued to press on subsequent administrations to achieve this.
The administration of Alh Lamidi Adesina was briefed by us with all the evidences of our follow-up and decided to handle the survey by setting up an inter-ministerial committee which included us, directors of M/S Geofocus Co Ltd. The Governor noted that the lean purse of the State could not embark on the project for its size. When he was informed that the project was a private project development and that M/S Geofocus was able to invite financiers, he was satisfied and stopped further action.
The administration of Senator Rashidi Ladoja was briefed by us with all the evidences of our follow-up and he decided to handle the survey by calling us to demonstrate our claim through the land survey which his administration decided to fund. By the time the survey was awarded to Geofocus in 2007, the total length of the Circular had increased from 72KM (in 1990) and 85KM (in 1993) to 110KM (in 2007). It is worthy of note that none of the government departments, be it Works/Transport or Survey/Lands knew the location or route of Ibadan Circular Road before it was survey designed and created by Geofocus Co Ltd.
Ladoja administration attempted to jump start the project with State funding but could not start because of the political upheaval that trailed his administration. The Right-of-Way survey was completed by Ladoja administration. He made an attempt to award a segment which was also scuttled.
Even though Governor Adebayo Akala was well informed about the project and its origin, he could hardly make some moves possibly due to the size of the project.
The administration of Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi did much damage to this project. For six years into his administration of eight years, he paid little or no attention until 2017 when he started to constitute committees of which we (M/S Geofocus Directors) were members.
The first task of Ajimobi administration was to wean Geofocus off the project. There was a passionate suggestion that Geofocus should forget the history of the project. This was rebuffed by Geofocus. In one of the Implementation Committee meetings however, the Permanent Secretary who presided “appreciated the efforts made so far by Geofocus on the issue of Ibadan Circular Road being the first company that piloted the project into existence’’. (4/1/2018).
Geofocus engaged a foreign firm from the U.S during the first committee which offered to finance and construct the superhighway within 3 years (Public-Private-Participation basis), manage it on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT). The State rejected the offer on the grounds that it (the State) cannot enter into loan agreement. Instead the State Government of Governor Ajimobi offered to us as follows: “ ….it is incumbent on your company (Geofocus) to secure sufficient fund which is expected to be domiciled in one of the first generation Banks in Nigeria’’. (July 2016). There is no capital market or financier that will come and dump such money in Nigeria or any country for any reason.
During the same Ajimobi Administration, the European Economic Development Council (EEDC) expressed its readiness in 2017 to take up the project on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, seeing the economic importance of the project to the ever growing city of Ibadan. A Proof of Fund was provided by EEDC towards a total financing of the project.
Without notice to Geofocus, the initiator and developer/facilitator of the project, the State Government of Governor Ajimobi opted for an opaque NEXIM BANK (China) offer and awarded the construction of 32KM to ENL Consortium Limited in contravention of the Oyo State Procurement Law (2010) with an apparent view to handling all financing by itself. Where on earth do you see China’s Nexim Bank scampering for a 32KM road project? The project failed to jump-start due to unavailability of imaginary funding.
At the inception of Governor Makinde Administration, Geofocus familiarised him with the update of the project for which Geofocus held a meeting with government officials on 27th May, 2020 at the peak of a global Covid 19 pandemic. The European Economic Development Council (EEDC) again wrote through Geofocus in 2021 to take up the project fully on a non-recourse funding arrangement without Bank Guarantee or collateral. The government responded that action was going on regarding the offer. The next thing we saw was a Punch advertisement on 28th April 2021 in which our inputs of 26 years became the highlights of the Punch advertisement by the State Government. Since Geofocus and its Financial/Technical partners had all that it would take, our firm presented all its documents (including Proof of Fund) in a competitive bidding which is in accordance with Section 8 of the Oyo State Procurement Law (2010). The rest is a developing history of the project today as the Procurement Law was dumped for another approach.
Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja as an epitome of truth, disclosed to Gov. Seyi Makinde at a political gathering that a company, Geofocus Co Ltd through two of its directors led by Elder Taiye Ayorinde brought the Circular Road project to him as soon as he got to office as the Executive Governor in 2003; so it is too late today for any government of Oyo State to wean Geofocus off the project called Ibadan Circular Road.
The project has suffered incurable damage of handling over the past 29 years of its conception and approval by a Military Head of State. While the military governments were on it for 4 years, civilian administrations have been on it for 25 years.
Four years into the conception of the project, I was away to Europe where I discussed the project with a foreign partner who developed a cold feet on the idea basing his skepticism on perceived inability of blacks to excel in team work to achieve great goals. This year 2024, another white lady Dee Lee, a CFP Harvard Financial Educator aired on New York Radio Station (2024) that Blacks, African Americans and Africans will continue to remain their slaves irrespective of their education or wealth. She based her deduction on ignorance, greed and selfishness of blacks.
Truly, Ibadan Circular Road project suffered from poor reading and analysis by handlers. For many years, the project documentation was poorly kept or read in the various ministerial departments. Many in the service of the government found it difficult to understand many aspects of the project. Ignorance set in because of perceived poor reading culture of Africans. As soon as politicians got a little understanding of what the project the Circular Road was about, the next consideration was greed, personal and selfish financial gains.
It is yet to be clear to the administration of Oyo State that the State Government did not initiate the project of Ibadan Circular Road but a private developer, Geofocus. In the project proposal memo which I wrote in 1995, the objectives are stated as follows:
“Ibadan is due for a first circular road, a project which should be programmed into the following phases:”
(a) Planning, feasibility study, demarcation and survey;
(b) Capital sourcing and phasing;
(c) Implementation.
The first phase (a) is crucial at the moment (1995) considering the rate of expansion of Ibadan and the rate of land use and property acquisition. Delay, in 1995 would involve higher costs because development would continue to overtake the project’’. (Nov.1995 memo to the government of Col C. Nwosu).
Poor study has not allowed government analysts to add much to the project other than subtracting from it. Deductions and degradations are made to the project to lose its purpose.
ONE KILOMETRE (500m +500m) BUILDING LINE AND SETBACK:
Phase (a) above (1995) is where various Oyo State Administrators were persuaded to come with Geofocus which initiated the project. Gov Lam Adesina (2001) opened the way for collaboration while Gov Rashidi Ladoja concretised action by launching into the land survey exercise in 2005.
Gov. Lam Adesina did not embark on any action on the Circular Road other than setting up a working committee that included the directors of Geofocus Co Ltd. His administration did not get to a stage of a Right-of-Way survey or corridor setback.
Geofocus, in establishing the Circular Road on land, decided a setback distance of 75metres on either side (75m+75m) of the Right-of-Way to accommodate a future parallel Railway line. This land belt (acquisition) was published in a gazette by Ladoja administration.
Although the 75m+75m was professionally carved and surveyed by Geofocus on virgin land expanse without need for demolitions in 2007, some unsuspecting land purchasers bought land parcels from land vendors who capitalized on people’s ignorance. Some even bought land on the pathway of the development and started development immediately. The project could not be invalidated because of such reckless incursion. Several efforts were made by Geofocus to the government for continuous opening and marking of the 75m+75m setback to forestall occurrences of wrongful land purchases and save the Right-of-Way. All appeals fell on deaf ears as Geofocus, the initiator would hardly be listened to again.
During Gov. Ajimobi’s tenure, an increase to 150m+150m was again suggested to give adequate buffer because of a parallel Metro Rail and also to forestall slum encroachment on the corridor. Another increase to 500m+500m was also suggested to create space for other ancillary projects around the Circular Road/Circular Railway. Again, Geofocus insisted on the 150m+150m setback. Land owners should not be deprived of any land outside the 150m+150m setback but that only a buffer (not acquisition) should only be set for Physical Planning Control. Therefore, investors who may need land around the Circular Road should purchase privately from owners since government should not acquire land for others’ private uses. Ajimobi administration had the largest expanse of land acquisitions in Oyo State for reasons best known to it.
Following a World Bank provision, Ajimobi Administration embarked on a Master Plan for Ibadan with the Circular Road as the main frame of the plan. Again, there was little or no input to the Master Plan by Nigerian professional planners who could have given the right professional touch to the issue of the belt around the Circular Road. Foreigners were engaged.
Any belt around the Circular Road aside the 150m+150m would amount to ‘land grabbing’ and not for planning control. To my knowledge, such setbacks as 150m+150m or 500m+500m has not been acquired by any government and so it is illegal to enforce it for land speculators or investors. If this administration will consider compensating the victims of ongoing demolitions, it will go a long way to turn around the misery of these victims. The Circular Road was not created to usher in human misery but growth and prosperity for coming generations.
LOSS OF FOREIGN CAPITAL INFLOW
Phase (b) Capital sourcing and phasing (1995 memo).
Some Oyo State administrations, especially Ajimobi’s and Makinde’s, have turned a wholesome Circular Road to an ordinary by-pass and contract patronage through a piecemeal mode of project delivery whereas the project is not for ease of traffic only. The approach of piecemeal delivery will defeat the purpose of the project in a way that physical constraints will overtake long suspended sections in the nearest future. The project is distressed as of today.
The project is designed to attract capital and become an economy of scale, paying for and replicating itself in the money market. The project was planned for delivery within a period of 3-4 years and not 110 KM for 100 years. The project conception is 29 years as of today.
Ibadan city has become deprived of trade capital and organized growth. Evidence abounds that fund was sourced by Geofocus for 110KM construction and another sourced for the construction of 110KM Metro Rail. We have verifiable proofs.
The 110KM Circular road would possibly have been completed and made to replicate itself in over 29 years. The project today would have possibly been transferred to Oyo State Government as its asset. Both the Circular Road and its twin Circular Metro Rail are barely finding any sustainable footing till date.
The twin project of road and rail are massive. The 110KM length Circular Road itself is about a distance between Ibadan and the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan highway. The consideration of such a superhighway of 3-4 lanes, it is beyond a State government budget provision at any time.
The Circular Road was conceived to attract offshore funding and capital; it is not a project to drain Oyo State revenue but to enhance it as an investment.
IBADAN CIRCULAR ROAD DEGRADATION
(c) Implementation (1995 memo)
Ibadan Circular Road has become a household name since its conception in 1995, approved by the Federal Military Government and passed to the State Military Administration in 1996. Over the years, the road has become a political commodity for scores in election campaigns. Recently, we have even been entertained with the Circular Road on our phones and electronic media through virtual models. We don’t need a rocket science to know that a city growing like Ibadan, and fast becoming one of the world’s 12 largest cities in the next 10 years requires a growth intervention like the Circular Road. Issues around the Circular Road have continued to be politicised with a view to winning applause and fill budget ‘requirements’.
The finishing line of the race is still very far. A stretch of 110KM of highway may be taking 100 years to complete as this is the 29th year of its conception. The essence of the project is to create a new Ibadan out of the old with its attendant value chain in creating employment, organized settlement and economy of scale.
PREDICTABLE ENVIRONMENTAL DANGERS FOR IBADAN CITY.
The concern of Geofocus as well as other watchers with the job so far again is the neglect of the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) of which Geofocus made a draft at the inception of first attempt at construction work. It may not be out of place to suggest that a detail EIA may still be required to guide the emplacement of this superhighway, especially bridges around Ibadan southern flank.
The survey and planning design of Ibadan Circular Road did not come without a proposal for effective Environmental Impact study of global Ibadan city. Three or four major rivers which run through Ibadan were visibly contributors to the two major flooding which Ibadan witnessed in recent past. Apart from the volumes of water flow the rivers generate, they flow to the Atlantic Ocean and coastal estuaries. Geofocus, in 2007 suggested that the southern flank of the Circular Road be raised substantially above the major rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. This is to allow enough room for their flow to compensate for possible high ebbs of the Ocean and estuaries whenever they may occur in this age of global warming.
In concluding, let me say again affirm that I am not a politician; I had worked on this project with the military, political leaders in parties like AD, PDP and APC since its inception.
It is again the turn of this administration to declare that it does not care about our little contribution to the development of a nation and city of this size.
If this project had come from other climes like America, Europe or China, our administrators would take instructions from them and listen to anything they say. The government even claims it is not aware of what is called Intellectual Property or copyright in this age! The issue of our contribution to this project is beyond the borders of Nigeria because since 2007, we have had cause to move outside the country for fund injection into the project. If we have worked on this project for 26 years and government agents still monitor and trail our movement as criminals to scuttle justice, only God can prevail on our administrators to do the needful to usher Africa into growth.
The Circular Road is known in most financial quarters of the US, Europe and China even before this present administration came into power. Perhaps it has come to a time when international fund providers see overtures by any Oyo State administration as lacking in integrity due to interruption of negotiations of recent times. A search for concessionaires that would do the bidding of administrators has continued to be the bane of this project which is being sacrificed to failure. Projects of this nature serve as impetus of hope to encourage Nigerians in diaspora to return home. When they come, they will usher better ideas for national growth which may equally be scuttled by home predators called administrators.
Ibadan Circular Road project is one of the most direct and simple projects to give better life to the people of a megacity and a State. A saying goes thus: “If you run with the footmen, and they make you tired, then how can you run with horses?… and if in this land of peace and opportunity, where we all trust, we are worried, then what can we do in a multitude of flooding problems?. The funding and engineering challenges do not need rocket science…..there are neither tunnels, nor ranges, neither valleys nor everglades but obstructions of human greed.
Debo Adedeji, initiator of the Ibadan Circular Road, is director Geofocus Co Ltd. He can be reached via geofocus_co@yahoo.co.uk
