The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has described Governor Seyi Makinde’s N679b budget proposal for 2025 as another fictitious document prepared to further enrich a few individuals within the corridor of power “as it has been the case since 2019 when the governor assumed office and turned the state into his personal estate.”
Gov. Makinde presented a total estimate of about N679billion to the State House of Assembly on Wednesday for legislative consideration and approval. But the opposition APC has said that the appropriation document was far from being a Budget of Economic Stabilization which the governor tagged it.
In a statement issued on Thursday and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC claimed the orchestrated presentation was just a ceremony aimed at fulfilling all righteousness as Gov. Makinde did not carry any of the relevant stakeholders along in its preparation while he would not make use of the Appropriation Bill upon its passage by the lawmakers.
“Experts have had reasons to ask questions on the values which annual budgetary rituals have added to the socio-economic and infrastructural development of Oyo state in the last five years. Apparently, they are aware of the abracadabra which the governor does with the management of the finances of the state without any recourse to public opinion, due process and the need for accountability.
As far as Oyo APC is concerned, the claim by Gov. Makinde that the 2025 Budget Proposal had the input of the people of the state is false even as we challenge him to come out clean on the specific projects which would gulp the 51 per center of the total N679billion. Also, we have expected him (Makinde) to quote the exact period which workers should expect the commencement of the payment of the N80,000 minimum wage which he announced recently as well as the monthly total of the state wage bill to justify the amount quoted as recurrent expenditure in the 2025 Budget.
“Gov. Makinde claimed 70 per cent successful implementation of the N515billion Budget for 2024 but we do not know the parameters he used to score himself. In the health sector of the state, residents live under the fear of lassa fever, cholera, small pox among others while the personnel in our understaffed public hospitals groan on account of poor condition of service. But for the World Bank which bankrolls Ibadan Urban Flood Management Projects, the whole of the state capital (Ibadan) would have been washed away by flood and erosion.
“The administration of Gov. Makinde woke up suddenly few weeks ago and signed N41billion as contract sum for the upgrade of the airport in Alakia. While the idea was a good one, it was not contained in the 2024 Budget and there is no record of due process followed in the award of that contract. The Adamasingba stadium renovation which gulped N5.2billion was another fraud perpetrated by the PDP administration of Engr. Makinde. Years after the release of the full contract sum, basic facilities in that stadium such as swimming pool, training pitch, toilets etc are no where to be found.
“Sad enough, Gov. Makinde recently revealed that he had wasted huge sums of money on two or three occasions in the last five years to fix some inner roads in Ibadan only to realize that what those roads required was total reconstruction. The much advertised Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road inaugurated few months ago has been limited to the use of light cars and motorcycles only and we all what informed this decision. The whole world would not be surprised to hear about Gov. Makinde awarding contact for the linking of Eleyele and Asejire rivers together to produce an ocean in Ibadan since his administration must siphon money through fictitious projects.” APC said.
