May 29, 2022 marked the third year anniversary of the Seyi Makinde-led administration in Oyo State and his broadcast to the good people of Oyo State on the occasion comes into focus. A look at his statements from the broadcast, as he presents his scorecard, and a subsequent statements in a media chat on Saturday June 4, 2022 reveals that Oyo State people are not getting what they were promised.
Our public schools had multiple cases of dilapidated buildings unfit for our children to learn
The fact of the matter is that three years after, too many of the primary and secondary schools in Oyo State still have the same multiple cases of dilapidated buildings unfit for children to learn. All that the governor had added after three years, as far as educational infrastructural development goes is the completion of the model schools projects initiated by the previous administration in the state. He initially rashly cancelled the School Governing Boards, an initiative of the past administration in Oyo State, before shamelessly reinstating it but the damage had been done. Students had reverted to reading their examination questions off the blackboard instead of having them printed; students do not get report cards at the end of each term. The funds that was supposed to be used to provide these things having found its way into the pocket of a radio owner/ human rights activist, via inflated notebooks production contracts.
Our healthcare system was in shambles with primary and secondary healthcare facilities becoming mere consulting rooms. We have upgraded 200 PHCs and will now begin to equip them.
Although Gov Seyi Makinde promised a Primary Healthcare Centre for every one of the 351 wards in Oyo State, his broadcast was silent on how many he has been able to add to the 721 health care facilities he inherited from the previous administration. He only said that he upgraded 200 of the existing one, in his words, ‘reconstructed’. However, he had not supplied drugs and any other medical consumables to any of the PHCs, as he himself admitted, meaning, the health centres are still the mere consulting rooms he declared them to be at the inception of his administration and he has fallen short of keeping his electoral promises in this regard.
Security was a big campaign issue. We promised reforms.
Contrary to the above statement in his broadcast and claims in his media chat that his administration has done very well in the area of security. It is a shame that the promised security reforms were never delivered. In fact, the security challenges were made worse. A new dimension of state-inflicted security problem was added by Gov Seyi Makinde, when he gave a known thug state recognition, appointed him to office and to all intent and purposes granted him the same immunity from litigation he (the governor) enjoys. This is because, despite the thug’s name being mentioned in several cases of mayhem unleashed on the innocent and defenceless citizens of Oyo State (the case of Ramon, late of Iwo Road being fresh in mind), the thug had never been questioned, interrogated, nor arrested, much less charged to court. He will not even honour a simple media chat to explain his role in the mayhems. Like the ‘deputy governor’ some people call him, he will always send his own version of the governor’s Chief Press Secretary to speak for him. When the news broke that Gov Seyi Makinde was dropping his deputy going into the 2023 elections, it is not out of sarcasm that many were expecting the thug to be named his running mate. The thug had been that visible in the Seyi Makinde administration, more visible than the elected Deputy Governor. The Deputy Governor has since done the needful and dumped his political association with the denigrating governor. Are these the reforms Gov Seyi Makinde promised? Omi Tuntun indeed!
Where roads go, development follows
One wonders then why despite the many claims of roads construction and rehabilitation by his administration and the number of kilometers of roads (unspecified in the broadcast) the Seyi Makinde administration boasts that he constructed or rehabilitated, a particular zone in Oyo State has not had a single road construction in three years, not even a single kilometer of road rehabilitation by the state government. Are some parts of Oyo State worthy of development, while others are not? Is Gov Seyi Makinde governor of some part of the state and not of others? Was he only voted in by some parts of Oyo State and not others?
We have attracted 23 billion naira in agribusiness. Additionally, we have secured 125 million dollars in development partners blended finance – for rural roads, agro logistics, market and industrial hubs
The question that comes to mind is, ‘where are all these billions going?” This is because the very items that the governor is claiming he has attracted billions in private sector funding for, are the same ones he has been taking billions in loans for. Who is fooling who? It might be wise to wait for an independent confirmation of these figures rather than take the governor at his words.
Gov Seyi Makinde’s continual harping about raising the Oyo State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 1.8 billion monthly to over 3.3 billion monthly falls flat in the face of a total of over 180 billion naira loan he has taken since the inception of his administration, notwithstanding the fact that most of projects he can lay claims to executing are either concessioned or by public private partnerships. He needs to explain to the good people of Oyo State where all the billions are going!
The income generated from the completion of the first phase of the Lekan Salami Sports Complex, Adamasingba renovations and putting the complex to use has already doubled, with a projected revenue increase of 300% when the entire complex is completed.
What the good people of Oyo State need to know is exactly what percentage of the generated income will be coming into the state coffers. The Adamasingba stadium project was executed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement and the contractors involved will be carting away the larger chunk of the generated income for many years to come. Oyo State people deserve to know what percentage belongs to the contractors and for how many years it will go to them.
We commissioned the Ojoo and Challenge Bus Terminals in Ibadan
Four modern bus terminals at Iwo Road, New Ife Road, Challenge and Ojoo were awarded to contractors at the cost of N16,900,471,800 (six billion, nine hundred million, four hundred and seventy one thousand, eight hundred naira only), meaning each costs almost 5 billion naira. This is a very exorbitant figure. Word on the street is that each bus terminal building should not cost more than 3 billion naira. Anybody in doubt can get a civil engineering company to do an independent valuation.
On the other hand, bars were incorporated into the terminals, where presumably, alcoholic drinks will be sold and consumed. The recent trend has been for officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement (NDLEA), to clear parks and garages of those selling alcoholic drinks and illicit drugs to reduce the incidence of and prevent alcohol and drug-induced accidents. That was until Seyi Makinde happened!
We have provided over 280 kilometers of public lighting through the ‘Light Up Oyo’ project.
Most residents of Oyo State readily report that the diesel powered street lights in their neighborhood do not work and when they do, it is always for short periods of time. It seems the objective of the project is to enable the siphoning of huge sums of money from the Oyo State coffers through a purported regular purchase of diesel, maintenance and other expenses when the solar street lights which were removed and sold off for this bogus project were a cheaper, more environmentally friendly alternative to street lighting.
Crime rates are on the decline
One sincerely wishes this were so, but the reality is that it is not. Robberies and muggings are on the increase! Gang clashes are escalating. Thugs in the employ of the Park Management System (PMS) are growing wings and harassing opposition politicians emboldened by how many cases they have gotten away with. Contrary to Gov Seyi Makinde’s claim in the media chat, security is his lowest scoring area!
We have trained 4,050 youths in agribusiness under various programmes. 98 of these youths have started their business!
For a programme that purportedly cost Oyo State taxpayers a sum one billion, two hundred and fifty five million, five hundred thousand naira, at the rate of at least N310,000 spent on each of the 4,050 trainees, the Youth Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP) is the most ill advised and the most wasteful of his many inoperable ideas and initiatives. The governor’s admission of 98 youths out of 4,050 having eventually started their businesses is perhaps the most damning admission of failure in his broadcast. 98 out of 4,050 is 0.02% success rate on an over a billion naira investment. To have declared that his administration has recorded over 75% success rate as far as service delivery and electoral promises made by him are concerned confirms that he has no qualms about lying to the public. It also confirms his self-delusion and detachment from the realities of the educational, health, economic and security challenges being faced by the good people of Oyo State.
Should a government with a 0.02% success rate on investment be claiming 75%? Should such a government be allowed a second term? The good people of Oyo State know better!
It is laughable that Seyi Makinde who having been invited by the leaders and stakeholders of the PDP to the party, only to be chased out and scattered by him, will have the guts and the temerity to villify anybody on the hijack of party structures. This, of course, is typical of him. His modus operandi is to pull wool over the eyes of the people and lie to the public that he is different from other politicians and he is acting in the interest of the people, while all the time, he is acting in his own personal interest and he is much worse and more desperate than those he is referring to as desperate politicians. The good people of Oyo State are not deceived and they cannot wait for the last day of his administration. They will speak to him with their votes and give their verdict on his lies and misrepresentations.
