Cutting Corners? Contractor Submits Below-Spec Road Design for Gbenga Daniel’s Constituency Project




By Kunle Asekun


The Ogun State government has accused the contractor handling Senator Gbenga Daniel’s Sagamu road project of cutting corners and submitting a design that falls below engineering standards.


In a letter dated September 22, 2025, and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Engr. Dr. Yusuf I. O, the state rejected the plan and ordered Minim and Tonye Nigeria Limited to go back to the drawing board.


3km Road, Only 260 Metres Approved


Daniel’s constituency project on Paddy Arikawe Oye Igbimo Road was initially billed as a 3-kilometre concrete road, split into four phases.

So far, the government has approved only 260 metres (phase one).

Phase two (740 metres) is still awaiting federal clearance.


Phases three and four (1 km each) are “mere suggestions."


Yet the Ministry faulted the contractor for not even specifying which portion of the road the approved 260 metres covers.


Work Without Approval


Investigations revealed that the contractor had already begun work without approval — a clear breach of state regulations.


The government immediately halted the work and directed the company to follow due process.


Design Falls Below Standard


The Ministry’s engineers uncovered serious lapses in the submitted design:

The contractor proposed 150 mm pavement of Grade 20 concrete instead of the required 220 mm reinforced pavement, Grade 35–40.

Binding concrete must be Grade 20; reinforced base, walks, and deck must be Grade 25 minimum with steel yield strength of 460 N/mm².

Stone base thickness must be 200 mm.


Layouts, elevations, reinforcement details, and material testing results were missing.


No design criteria codes were included.


The Ministry declared in its letter that the submission is not acceptable, and Ogun State will not compromise quality or safety in public projects.

A Road to Nowhere?

For now, the high-profile project is stalled. The government insists that unless the contractor produces a transparent, standard-compliant design, the 260-metre stretch of road will not move an inch forward.

The controversy has sparked questions in Sagamu: Was the contractor trying to cut costs, or was the project designed to fail from the start?


Kunle Asekun writes from Makun, Sagamu

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