BAYO AGBOOLA from Ibadan writes on the disagreement between the Governor Seyi Makinde government in Oyo state and the main opposition parrty the All Progressives Congress in Oyo state.
Few days after Governor Seyi Makinde had a dinner with the national leaders of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Ibadan, he said among other things that “politics is over and it was time for governance”, his administration and the main opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC) are sharply divided on the right path to take.
Makinde’s template and bone of contention
The bone of contention is the approval by the Oyo state government to purchase 100 units of Kia Rio 1.4ltrs engine and five units of Kia Optima 2.0ltrs engine at the cost of “around N3.354billion” to improve the state security architecture as well as the approval of N3.192billion for the payment of the backlog of operations and maintenance of the Light Up Oyo Project.
These, among others, formed part of the resolutions arrived at during the State Executive Council meeting held at the Executive Chamber of the Governor’s Office, which was the first since the inauguration of the Council for the second term of Governor Seyi Makinde.
To the Governor Makinde-led administration, the gesture was a right decision coming up at the right time, but to the opposition APC in the state, it was not.
The APC was of the view that the administration should “desist from further award of the contracts but rather find ways of providing succour to the teeming populace who are direct victims of the worsening economic situation in the country.
They also posited that “reckless spending, misplaced priority and lack of proper planning on the part of those at the helm of affairs, as being experienced in Oyo state since 2019, was responsible for the skyrocketing inflation and poverty in the country”.
Speaking at a press briefing shortly after the state’s first executive council meeting in Omituntun 2.0, Oyo state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof Musibau Babatunde, said the gesture was basically to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the security operatives in the state.
Prof Babatunde said “if they have all the equipment to work with, definitely, we will live in a more safer environment”.
He further said, “As you are all aware that security is one of the major pillars of this administration, right from Omituntun 1. 0 now down to 2.0, this has been able to boost economic activities in the state”.
“Council agreed to the purchase of 100 units of Kia Rio 1.4ltrs engine and five units of Kia Optima 2.0ltrs engine to boost security across the 33 local governments areas of the state and they are going to be branded in the state security colors.
“This will be distributed across all the security agencies and across the local governments of the state. If you remember, in the first 100 days in office during the first term, similar things was done, vehicles were procured for security agencies in the state and due to the dynamics of security situation in the country, we are been proactive in order to be able to.manage effectively and then to prevent crimes as much as possible and also to fatback the response time to distress calls made to our security agencies in the state.
“This will also be a way of equipping our security networks to be able to have something to work with” .
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning emphasised, “This is basically to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of our security operatives in the state because, if they have all the equipment to work with, definitely we will live in a more safer environment relative to what obtains in some other states of the country. So, we will continue to boost the security architecture of the state”.
Speaking on the approvals for the Light up projects, Oyo state Commissioner for Energy, Mr Seun Ashamu on his part said the state government decided on the payment after an earlier audit was carried out on the project and observation of improved service delivery.
“In the just concluded meeting of the State Executive Council, our first in this second term, we resolved and approved the payment for the backlog of operations and maintenance of the Light Up Oyo Project.
“Residents will recall that sometimes towards the end of April, an announcement was made that the state government will be carrying out an audit and inspection on the project. That has since been done and I think residents of the state will also testify to the fact that since June or thereabout, the public lighting has been stable in the state and this is what has prompted the state government to approve the payment for the operations and maintenance.
“It is also important to let the public know that in any of our localities, if there are any challenges or issues with the public lighting, there is actually a whole lines that has been set up by the state and that has been in use in the last three years. They can report any of the lines that may be malfunctioning there.”
Mr Ashamu while maintaining that Oyo state government has commenced fixing all damaged public lighting infrastructure in the state, said that the government is now more determined to enforce the law to sanctions those caught damaging or pilfering public lighting infrastructure in the state,
“So, in areas where there has been collisions with the public lighting infrastructure or where there has been cases of vandalism on the cables, those are been replaced as we speak and the process started a few weeks back.
“We want the members of the public to know that the administration intends to enforce the rule of law. At the back end of the first term in office, we passed the laws and regulations ghat allows for the prosecutions of those caught vandalizing public infrastructures and our intention is to abide by those rules amid regulations.
“So, we appeal to residents in the state not to vandalize the public lighting infrastructure and to please ensure that are careful when we go about driving particularly at weekends and late at nights. The public lighting infrastructure is there and its there for the benefit of all residents in the state.That was the approval for the payment for operations and the maintenance and also for the public to note and to be aware that remedial work is ongoing and that we shall be enforcing against any violators or anyone caught pilfering or vandalizing the public infrastructures in the state”.
The state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade said it has become the tradition of Makinde’s administration to pay particular attention to security, adding that the fleet of cars that have been purchased for the Oyo Amotekun, state anti crime joint task force team, codenamed Operation Burst and the Nigeria Police, will add up to the excess of 400 in the last four years. He said the government wont rest in the areas of security among others.
Opposition objects
However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo state on its part tasked Governor Makinde ” to desist from further award of contracts at alleged inflated cost but rather find ways of providing succour to the teeming populace who are direct victims of the worsening economic situation in the country.
He posied that “reckless spending, misplaced priority and lack of proper planning on the part of those at the helm of affairs, as being experienced in Oyo state since 2019, was responsible for the skyrocketing inflation and poverty in the country”.
APC in a statement by its Oyo state Publicity Secretary, Comrade Olawale Sadare, said, ” It has come to a point that we, as stakeholders in the affairs of the Pacesetters state, cannot continue to watch as the present PDP administration would not cease from plundering scarce resources. We querried the wisdom behind spending of billions of naira on the purchase of Kia Rio brand of luxury cars as security vehicles about years ago and we got vindicated as only a few number of those cars are seen around today”.
“The state government is now repeating the same sleaze with the approval of N3.35b on another 105 units of the same fragile vehicle brand for security. Apart from the fact that such brand is not ideal for use as patrol vehicles by security agents, the price of each car is put at N32 million and this is unacceptable.
Also, on the issue of N3.19 billion approved for the maintenance of street light project which cost over N28 billion to be executed without accountability, we vehemently kick against it as there is no justification for spending such stupendous amount on replacement of poles.
“We cannot continue like this.Rather than create an avenue for a few privileged persons around the corridor of power to siphon scarce resources, Gov. Makinde should emulate some governors who have done so much in recent times to address the challenges in their respective states. He should also address the plight of workers and pensioners in the state who came out few days ago to lament high-handedness, deprivation and deceit from the PDP administration since 2019”.
APC stressed , ” We are also using this opportunity to raise the alarm on the persistent downward slide which has been the case of education in Oyo state.
“Few days ago, the results posted by virtually all the students of public schools in the state who participated in the last West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) left much to be desired. It was F9 parallel everywhere and this is as a result of the rot brought into the system by Governor Makinde. In fact, we cannot continue like this.”
It is a known fact that the 2023 general elections has come and gone and the masses are anxiously awaiting real dividends of democracy, particularly, at this crucial period of removal of subsidy on fuel which has heightened the economic tension in and around the country.
Hence, the more reason for the political class, especially, those holding political offices to rise to the needs of the people by prioritising those things capable of alleviating the sufferings of there people and not playing politics with every policies and issues they themselves known will not be of any benefits whatsoever to the masses, all in the name of politics
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