As every administration at the state levels are celebrating their one year stewardship, the opposition APC in Oyo thinks otherwise despite Makinde’s avowed claims. BAYO AGBOLA writes on the claims and counter-claims.
The first 365 days in office of Oyo state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, has come and gone though, but there are still issues regarding the perception of people, groups and political parties, especially the opposition All Progressives Congress, (APC) on what his administration actually stands for and its impact on the people.
To the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Makinde’s administration has been a great blessing to the state as against the past administration.
PDP praises Makinde
According to the state PDP chairman, Alhaji Kinmi Mustapha, state secretary, Alhaji Wasiu Adeleke and publicity secretary, Engr Akeem Olatunji, the Engr Makinde-led administration has in its first 365 days in office critically implemented and executed impactful policies on its core priorities as outlined in the governor’s blueprint when he was sworn in as the executive governor of the state.
“It is with great pride and honour we make bold to declare that the PDP government in Oyo state under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde has delivered on its campaign promises, but we are not unmindful of the fact that the task ahead is greater; so, we are committed to do even more. When our amiable governor took over leadership of the state from the last administration, his policy direction and core priorities were clearly articulated without any ambiguity; therefore, it is within the scope of the core priorities we proudly present our unrivaled achievements within just one year in office. We as a political party understand that playing opposition comes with a heavy burden of trying to downplay the success of a performing government such as the PDP administration in Oyo state, but then our success story spans far above sponsored media campaigns as it was applicable in the last eight years. Ours is simply a government with a human face where the people continually feel impacts of government policies in their lives and well-being”.
Also, the immediate past chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the state, Pastor Benjamin Akanmu said, “For our governor in Oyo State, it’s a time of praise and commendation. Of course, no parents would bash a child that returns home with an excellent report card. Governor Makinde deserves commendation if we put into consideration how the administration has been positively affecting lives of the masses in the state. To us, his report card is impressive and we congratulate him and his team for moving with an enviable report card.
APC chieftain knocks Makinde
Legal luminary and APC chieftain, Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) had while speaking in a live radio interview in Ibadan accused the Gov Makinde-led administration of engaging in in populism policy rather than being firm with the business of governance, saying, ” It is back-firing already. People are already comparing and contrasting, when Ajimobi was there. Now in twelve months, this is May, not one block has been put on the other and I am not here to deride anybody. To get public sympathy, you are doing certain things, but these certain things in the long run would be in the interest of the people. At the end of the day, you and I are to pay heavily for it. I’m sorry I have to say that this government has come to destroy the template of development of Oyo state.
The APC while reviewing the first one year in office of Engr Makinde described it as waste saying, “Some two weeks before May 29th 2020, Oyo APC had been under immense pressure to assess the government of Engr Seyi Makinde. However in the spirit of fair play, we exercise restraint to withstand the attendance pressures that go with it. At Oyo APC, we choose to give the government some benefits of doubt, knowing that governance is not a tea party. Now, after the government has come out with its 365 days scorecard, we at Oyo APC can now assess Engr Seyi Makinde government’s performance based on its examination script submitted against the examiner’s prepared answers.
“There is time for acting and there is time for accounting. Borrowing from the word of Governor Seyi Makinde, “We have kept our promise to finish what previous administration left undone instead of selfishly starting new ones Engr Seyi Makinde thereafter stylishly claimed 307 projects in the educational sector from the previous government his party, the PDP, claimed left Oyo state in ‘sorry state’.
Makinde flaunts report sheet
Governor Seyi Makinde in presenting his scorecard in the first 365 days in office to the people of Oyo said, “We have kept our promises to finish what previous administrations left undone instead of selfishly starting new ones. We looked at the books and found projects from as far back as 2011. So far, in the education sector, we have completed 209 projects awarded by the previous administration and 68 awarded by our own administration. This year, we started 236 projects which are currently ongoing. These projects include construction of schools and classrooms, construction of Early Child Development Centres, renovation of schools, installation of boreholes, supply of furniture and sports equipment and other procurements.”
In the economic sector, Gov Makinde said contrary to what it used to be in the state, “There had been incremental changes in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) following the introduction of a new IGR framework in November 2019 and that between December 2019 and February 2020, the state’s IGR figures had been between 2.43 billion and 2.7 billion naira. We have started the Park Management System to bring sanity and order to the transportation sector. It also generates funds for the government. We are working towards ensuring that the process runs seamlessly. We have renovated and rehabilitated roads and started a Zero Pothole Policy for our roads, first in Ibadan and this would be expanded to other towns. We paid counterpart funding of 350 million naira so that we can benefit from the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP). This would enable us to rehabilitate 1,000 kilometres of rural roads.
“In land and housing, we built a digitised platform with georeferencing for electronic Certificate of Occupancy. You can now get your C of O within 60 days of payment. We have improved in the area of ease of doing business and set up the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency to harness our competitive advantage in agriculture.”
In the area of security, the governor said that the administration is building a security architecture that the people would be proud of, explaining that aside working with federal security agencies by providing equipment and vehicles, the signing of the Oyo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) Bill 2019 into law to complement the efforts of the federal security agencies was part of the administration’s innovations to ensure adequate security in the state.
With these and others, the fact remains that the administration of Engr Makinde should in the next three years prioritise the need to do more to meet the high expectations of the people of the state to retain and sustain the popularity he enjoyed that resulted in his emergence as the executive governor of the state. To face the fact, Engr Makinde still needs to do more as far as the race for 2023 is concerned towards retaining his governorship seat.
Be that as it may, it appears a good number of people in the state are not really comfortable with the governance style of Engr Makinde. Therefore, the earlier the governor adjusts and makes necessary amendments within the shortest possible time, the better.
