The Edo State Assets Verification Committee on Wednesday said the Senator Monday Okpebholo-led government inherited a debt profile of N682,565,164,814 from the immediate past administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

DAILY POST reports that the chairman of the committee, Dr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, disclosed this during the presentation of the final report of the committee to Governor Monday Okpebholo at the Government House.

The over 3,900-page report revealed that the debt profile of N682,565,164,814 was 900 per cent higher than the debt that Godwin Obaseki’s administration inherited from his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole, in 2016, which was put at N48 billion.

The committee also alleged that the immediate past government awarded a total of 22 contracts worth N22 billion for Information and Communication Technology, ICT-related activities.

It said the contracts were awarded to 18 different companies, and over N17 billion had been paid as of November 2024.

The report, however, criticised non-state actors controlling the back-end of the E-Gov platform while the state spent billions on consultancy services.

It further alleged that the state government’s financial commitment to the ongoing construction of a Five-Star Hotel amounting to N19 billion was not reflected in the ownership of the hotel.

It noted that Edo State has only a 20 per cent share of the facility, while a company allegedly established in 2024 owns 80 per cent of it.

The committee opined that when the agreement was reached for the company to become the new owner, it had not contributed a dime to the project.

“The report also queried several other projects of the last administration, including the modular refinery, Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA), claimed to be a private-sector-driven project, but the state government has spent over N5 billion in cash and assets.

“The renovation of Stella Obasanjo Hospital, costing almost a billion naira, was also mentioned, with the project not completed yet commissioned by the former governor. It was observed that procurement processes were not followed in the projects.

“On education, the Committee’s report stated it was alarmed that under the EdoBEST programme, out of the $75 million meant for basic education reforms and the renovation of schools from the World Bank, “only $5 million came directly to SUBEB, the commission charged with the responsibility of implementation, while the remaining 93% of $70 million was directly managed by the Governor under an arrangement referred to as Performance for Results.

“The SUBEB staff complained that out of the $5 million allocated to them, only $2.5 million was accessed before the project came to a close,” the report stated.

The committee, however, recommended, among other things, forensic analysis and investigation of the ownership of companies, enterprises, and properties in Abuja, Lagos, and other locations where Edo State had prior interests before Godwin Obaseki’s tenure.

It also recommended the prosecution of indicted ex-officials, the blacklisting of indicted companies, and full prosecution of contractors who violated the laws of the state, along with a full investigation of the EdoBEST programme, particularly the utilisation of the $75 million from the World Bank.