Oyo state Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has told members of the opposition to shut up permanently for the next eleven months as there were insinuations from different quarters that the current administration was planning to siphon the huge funds belonging to the Local government.
Makinde said this on Friday during the flagged off of the construction of an Ultra-Modern Secretariat and Office Complex for Local Government Service Commission and Local Government Staff Pension Board in Ibadan, the state capital.
At the flag-off ceremony held at the state Secretariat, Makinde acknowledged the fact that the initiative was conceived by the Permanent Secretary, Local Government Service Commission.
He said: “When the Permanent Secretary came to me, he said this was what he intended to do and, after our discussion, I went around the Secretariat and tried to see for myself where new buildings were built. And the only one I saw was the solid minerals building. At that point, and I said we should lay a new foundation to start a campaign of regenerating the Secretariat.
“When the plan for the project was finalised, some people went out and said we were taking money from the Local Government. I think they should shut up permanently for the next eleven months.”
Makinde added that “Oyo State was lucky to have the first modern Secretariat in the past but, several years later, it is still the same structures we kept painting on the outer surface without renovation.”
Further, he revealed that his administration had so far released the sum of N15 Million to each Ministry for renovation of their various offices, adding that he was glad that the Secretariat is having a new look, not only from the outside but also from the inside.
He assured that, in about eleven months, “we would be coming back to commission the edifice.”
He thanked the chairmen and chairpersons of Local Government and Local Council Development Areas, saying that “everybody came together to pitch into it and by that your singular action, we were able to raise a substantial amount that is needed for the construction of the structure.”
