A coalition of civil society organizations in Osun state, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has alleged that the distribution of palliative received by the state from the federal government was shrouded in secrecy.
Though the group disclosed that a bag of rice was given to about 26 CSOs with about 300 members, it stated that the rice has been rejected.
Speaking at the monthly State of the State address in Osogbo, Wednesday, the Executive Director of TOM, Prof Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, condemned killings in some parts of the state and appealed to the security agencies to be up and doing in the discharge of their roles and save the state from hoodlums who have been striking fear into the hearts of the people.
“As one of our subsidiaries, Transparency and Accountability Group (TAG), counseled against the construction of the Olaiya Flyover before it was implemented, we are counseling against the construction of flyovers at Oke-Fia and Old Garage areas. Our counsel is premised on the state of Osun’s finances, vis-a-vis the level of urgency of such infrastructure at the proposed locations.
“A simple dualization of the Lameco-Okefia-Old Garage stretch of road and signalization of that stretch will solve whatever traffic bottlenecks may currently exist there. More specifically, traffic lights at LAMECO, Oke-Fia, and Old Garage, on a dualized road, will ease every traffic congestion currently being experienced on the road.
“We advise that the government redirects the funds it will expend on constructing flyovers, to widening major roads in towns whose major roads are currently too narrow for the kind of traffic that goes through them. Major towns like Ikirun, Iwo, Ilesa, Ejigbo, and Ila-Orangun are in dire need of wider major roads, to reduce the risk to lives occasioned by the dense traffic that passes through those towns.
“The Akoda-Oke Gada-Ido-Osun dualization that is currently going on in Ede is a template that should be replicated in the major towns mentioned above, as an alternative to erecting needless flyovers at Oke-Fia and Old Garage areas of Osogbo. Flyovers at those locations will at best end up as wastes of space and resources, and the Governor can better establish his legacy by dualizing major roads in the aforementioned major towns,” TOM said.
The group also cautioned governor Ademola Adeleke from embarking on the construction of another flyover in Osogbo, the state capital, saying it would amount to a waste of resources.
On the palliative, the group said, “We must also use this opportunity to condemn the secrecy that shrouded the distribution of the palliatives that were received from the Federal Government. For transparency’s sake, we encourage the Osun State Government to be more open with such distribution processes in the future. Openness secures public confidence and the government cannot do without it,” it added.
Reacting, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, stated that the state government is not shrouding the distribution process of palliative in secrecy, stating that a public committee comprising various sectors of the society successfully handled the exercise.
Alimi who commended the group, assured that the state has an infrastructure plan that has a sustainable funding model and which targets facilitation of economic growth and development of the state.
