The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has come out to condemn Governor Seyi Makinde’s decision to bankroll the international soccer match between the Nigeria’s Under 20 female team and their Rwandan counterparts with a whooping sum of N110million at the expense of many critical responsibilities which required the attention of the state government.
The opposition party specifically came hard on the governor over his alleged lackadaisical attitude to the plight of the staff of the Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso which has resulted in the closure of the medical facility since the beginning of this month of September.
In a statement issued on Monday and made available to journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC hinted that the health sector in the state would soon be grounded as the state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) was set to commence a total industrial action in solidarity with their colleagues in Lautech Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso with October 2, 2025 set as the deadline for Gov. Makinde to act as expected.
“It is a height of insensitivity on the part of a government that cannot value the life of its citizens to prioritize spending on a soccer project which belongs to the federal government. For the avoidance of doubt, the qualifiers match between the Nigerian Under 20 girls and their Rwandan counterparts had been put in the year 2025 budget of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) through its parent body- Nigerian Sports Commission (NSC) and there are no reports that either the NFF or FG asked Gov. Makinde to help them out in hosting the match.
“As a matter of fact, the emergency decision of the Oyo state government to attract the match to the low quality Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan raised a lot of questions which beg for answers. The decision was hurriedly backed up with a budget of N110million which has been removed from the state treasury immediately.
“One might not understand the implications of reckless spending by the current PDP administration in the state until a wider look is taken at most critical sectors which have been abandoned. For instance, among the demands of the striking medical staff of Lautech are the procurement of modern equipment to cater for patients since it has been established that no public hospital in the state has anything like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Machine among others.
“Worse still, X-ray machines and ambulances are luxury in most of these hospitals while qualified personnel quit the service of the state government in droves on daily basis due to negligence and high-handedness on the part of the Makinde administration. Nigerians love football but female under 20 qualifiers cannot be their priority at the moment. Therefore, Gov. Makinde should spend a less amount on the match and use the balance to fix some of the problems in Lautech Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso.” Sadare stated.
