A chieftain of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Oyo State, Engineer Oyedele Hakeem Alao has declared that payment of salaries to workers is not an achievement any Governor should be celebrating.
Alao who contested gubernatorial election on the platform of AD in 2019, said that Governor Seyi Makinde of the state is not rendering any assistance to workers in the state when he announced that he has been paying salaries of workers since his assumption of office.
He said, A call has gone to Engr Seyi Makinde to start his administration on a better slate from 2021 because his administration so far has been characterized by a lot of improprieties, burdens of loans, insincerity of purpose, inconsistency, pretence, policy reversal and attempt at siphoning the Oyo State money.
Engr Hakeem Alao observed that contrary to the promises made by Engr Makinde and the expectations of the good people of Oyo State, the governor has failed in many areas and has had many minuses than pluses.
The AD guber candidate noted first that Engr Makinde has failed to fulfil the promise of generating revenues locally to run the state government and exportation of exporting the Oyo maize to Botswana, rather a professor that the governor did not know where he was suited was imported from Botswana and “till date and almost two years in the saddle, Oyo State has not produced maize to the point that it would be exported even to the neighbouring Ogun State.”
The statement reads: “The administration of Governor Seyi Makinde, from critical observation and findings, has been characterized by a lot of improprieties, burdens of loans, insincerity of purpose, inconsistency, pretence, policy reversal and attempt at siphoning the Oyo State money.
“To start with, during the 2019 electioneering campaigns, Engr Seyi Makinde promised the people of Oyo State that when elected his administration would be run with revenues generated out of his administration’s ingenuity to fund developmental projects in the state.
“He promised a government that would create a buoyant economy and infrastructural development that would be powered through agriculture. In fact, it is on record how he said he had perfected arrangement in Botswana to export and process maize from Oyo State.
“Till date and almost two years in the saddle, Oyo State has not produced maize to the point of exporting it even to the neighbouring Ogun State, rather our governor has only imported a professor from Botswana to become a commissioner in his administration whom he did not know where the professor is best suited.
“In less than two years, Governor Makinde has moved him to three different ministries. Honestly, there are so many minuses than pluses in this government which have become so obvious to only the discerning minds.”
Engr Hakeem Alao further notes that Governor Makinde has portrayed himself as the most borrowing governor Oyo State has ever had, saying that he had taken loans to the tune of almost N170bn in less than two years of his administration whereas there were nothing significant on ground to match the loans taken so far.
“The administration of Governor Makinde has recorded a feat and decorated himself with the title as the Most Borrowing Governor (MBG) in the history of Oyo State which gives him away as a governor that lacks creativity and innovation to generate revenue.
“To date in less than two years of his administration, Governor Makinde has taken loans with all sorts of nomenclatures to classify them running to the tune of N170bn, which are tied to projects as infrastructures and agric resuscitation.
“So much as the loans are, there are practically nothing serious on ground as achievements of his administration, although the governor has lambasted his critics and oppositions that they would keep shut next year when he would start “commissioning” his projects. We are waiting.
“Are there loans under whichever classification they come that they will not attract interest with their tenor? Governor Makinde has really put the state on a course of debt which is capable of putting the indigenes of the state in perpetual servitude.”
The contract and project management expert with civil engineering as background, Engr Hakeem Alao wondered why any governor should be praised heaven high because he was paying salaries, emoluments and gratuities, maintaining that prompt payment of salaries “is praiseworthy and it becomes a great achievement paying salaries as at when due when the last administration had failed to do much in that regard.
“But what is scary is the fact that the salaries are being paid with bank facilities tied to the federal government monthly allocation of Oyo State. Practically, what that means is that the Oyo monthly allocation is being used to pay salaries alone by the time you do the calculation.
“Let the Governor be reminded that salary payment is a statutory responsibility and he is not rendering any favour to the Oyo State workforce.”
According to the statement, another serious minus in this administration and sharp pointer to the insincerity of the Makinde government was the fact that those who applied for the Covid-19 stimulus MSME loans had been shortchanged, explaining that “Regarding the post Covid-19 Stimulus MSME loans application the Makinde administration advertised in July, 2020 for which people paid N3,000 each to obtain, the news that filtered out from some of the applicants was that their names have been replaced with a new list of the preferred candidates of the Makinde administration.
“In fact, it is on our record that a microfinance bank senior staff through which the loans will be disseminated told an applicant that she should not bother herself because a government list has replaced the one they were to work on.”
On the proposed multi-campus system for LAUTECH, Hakeem Alao admonished Governor Makinde to strengthen the existing higher institutions in all the zones in Oyo State, and “instead of dissipating energy on multi-campus system for LAUTECH Ogbomoso, he should rather work harmoniously with Senator Fatai Omotayo Buhari on the proposed Federal University of Agriculture to be sited in Oke-Ogun whose bill has been passed remaining only the President’s assent.”
The ex-AD governorship candidate, meanwhile, described as obnoxious, childish and irritating the idea that no member of the Engr Makinde cabinet should talk to the press unless with an approval.
Engr Hakeem Alao states that “another obnoxious, childish and irritating policy showing lack of confidence in the cabinet members of Governor Makinde was issued recently directing that no one should talk to the press again unless he takes approval from the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr Taiwo Adisa.
“This is a big insult on the personalities of all the cabinet members portraying them as incapable and incompetent.
“Is Mr Adisa the only sophisticated sensible man in the administration? And it is the same Mr Adisa that would be insulting and using vulgar language on radio to address the critics and the oppositions instead of addressing the real issues raised by them.”
Engr Hakeem Alao, who said he and his team were less concerned about how unfaithfully Governor Makinde had treated members of the 2019 Oyo governorship coalition and his party stalwarts “who brought him to power”, said “What is most important is to find out whether he has run the government of Oyo State with utmost sincerity of purpose and transparency, of course, which is nil.”
The former AD gubernatorial candidate concludes, “As we are calling on Governor Makinde to retrospect and start better in 2021, we wish him a happy 53rd birth anniversary and all the residents of Oyo State and Nigerians as a whole a Merry Christmas season and Happy New Year in advance.”
