The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has told Governor Seyi Makinde to reverse his decision to spend a whooping N63.5billion to renovate Agodi Government House describing the development as height of profligacy, insensitivity and impunity which has the tendency to further wreck the economy of the state.
The PDP administration of Gov. Makinde announced, on Wednesday, that the State Executive Council had approved the plan to spend about N63.5billion on the overhaul of the Government House structures and another N132million to hire professional gardeners for the maintenance of green areas and other designated places at the official residence of the governor. Additionally, another sum of N14.3billion was approved for the procurement of Instrument Landing System (ILS) for the Ladoke Akintola Airport in Ibadan.
In a statement issued at the weekend and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC berated Gov. Makinde for allegedly treating the people of the state with utter disdain and disrespect “as all he could do to defend the reckless spending in the name of Government House renovation was to announce another plan to purchase two aircrafts for him to monitor criminals from the air space”.
“We watched keenly as concerned individuals and groups across the globe condemned the decision of Gov. Makinde to record another ugly stride in his penchant for financial recklessness and wasting of public funds through the payment of huge sums on white elephant projects and misplaced priorities. Interestingly, most of those who did not take us seriously when we raised the alarm on the production of 212,505 copies of exercise books for public school pupils at the rate of N2100 per copy in 2019 are now the leading voices against the same Gov. Makinde.
“To make the matter, Gov. Makinde failed to justify the decision to expend so much billions on the renovation of structures which had been built to last decades several years ago and renovated to taste by the immediate past administration of the ever-neat and classy Senator Abiola Ajimobi in 2017. All that played out in Gov. Makinde’s official address to the state lawmakers at the Oyo State House of Assembly on Thursday was a futile attempt to cover up a case of brazen corruption and impunity.
“At the same time, Gov. Makinde has a lot to tell the world about a criminal case of contract splitting which has been established in the ongoing upgrade of Alakia Airport because he has not explained why he had to release another N10billion and now N14.3billion for the the same project estimated to gulp N14.3billion to complete and after full payment had been made, the governor keeps making fresh budget as extra billions are being paid by the state government.
“On the issue of aircrafts, it is another conduit through which a few individuals around the corridor of power would siphon public funds. The best thing which Gov. Makinde would do is to pay for two new airplanes from the coffers of the state and then bring one tokunboh private jet which would move him and his cronies around the world at the expense of the masses. Meanwhile, aircrafts are not what Oyo state needs at the moment to combat crime but synergy among stakeholders, motivation of security agents and deployment of relevant technologies as the idea of surveillance with airplane is premature.” APC said.
