A gubernatorial aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde has urged governor Abiola Ajimobi of the state to “clear all the debt” which his administration has incurred since 2011 before the next year’s gubernatorial election.
Makinde in a statement issued on his behalf by Prince Dotun Oyelade, his media aide, made available to pressmen on Sunday lamented that “a total of N130b has so far been borrowed by the current administration out of which N69b was borrowed in months”.
The PDP stalwart in the statement revealed that the loan had made the state the 5th most indebted state in the federation.
Makinde said, “this reckless and unprecedented loan has made Oyo state the 5th most indebted state in the federation and the largest loan ever acquired by any single administration since the establishment of old Oyo state 42 years ago.
“With six months to the next gubernatorial election which will usher in another regime and with no clear sign that governor Ajimobi is planning to offset the debt, the pertinent question people are asking is that with so many neglects in critical sectors like agriculture, education, health, tertiary institutions in comatose for several months now and primary school teachers owed over 27bn, unpaid pensions among others, what projects in specific and quantifiable terms has the government spent N130bn on?
“The general financial drift of the state is typified by the announcement in April this year that the state government has awarded contract worth N5.7bn for the renovation of secondary schools and that the bulk of the renovation will be completed in two weeks.
“How billions of naira will be expended within two weeks became clear when up till now, no meaningful project was carried out”.
Makinde concluded by urging the people to ask those aspirants who were promising to continue with the legacy of Governor Ajimobi if the legacy of unbridled debt profile and neglect of critical sector was what they wanted to perpetuate.
