8th January, 2022
The Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, OSSAP-SDGs has denied claims in some online publications that the N1 billion contracts for the installation of solar streetlights in some parts of Adamawa State were not executed.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Rotimi Ajayi, Head, Communications Unit, OSSAP-SDGs categorically denied insinuations that the contracts were not executed as stated in the terms of the award.
“For the avoidance of doubts, OSSAP-SDGs wishes to state emphatically that contrary to the fake news by the publication, the contract was fully and duly executed with strict adherence to due process and for the benefit of the good people of Adamawa,” Ajayi who accused the reporter of deliberate mischief and gross misinformation over his handling of the story on the solar street lights said.
He noted that the reporter spurned opportunities to get information on the location and sites of the projects that would have enabled his to write a more balanced report by OSSAP-SDGs because he was bent of mischief.
He said “Indeed, when the reporter contacted the Office, the project and media officers volunteered to take him on a physical inspection of the projects and their locations. But he claimed that he was busy and will not be able to go on the inspection, perhaps because he had already made up his mind on carrying out a hatchet job.
“On his request, the Office forwarded about 150 pictures of the completely installed streetlights and their locations to him. But the publication would rather choose to attribute the streetlights to a certain serving Senator without necessary verifications.
“The Office therefore regards the report as a hatchet job and a very malicious attempt to rubbish the good image of the Office.
“The publication and its reporter obviously set out for mischief and blackmail against the noble tenets of journalism in the way they have handled this report,” Ajayi concluded.