Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, at the weekend said his administration plans to construct five flyovers to ease traffic within the next one-year, in the N100 billion infrastructure development plan for the state.
But in swift reaction to the move, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osun Chapter, has accused Adeleke of deliberate intention to plunge the State into avoidable financial crisis.
However, Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described criticism by the APC in the State as, “unpatriotic, reprehensible and a display of anti-development, anti-people politics for which the opposition is known for.”
The governor also disclosed that 45 roads across the 30 local government areas in the state had been selected for construction.
Adeleke, who stated this in Osogbo said the projects would be financed solely by the government without borrowing from financial institutions.
The governor contended that two flyovers would be constructed in Osogbo, one in Ile-Ife, one in Owode-Ede and one in Ikirun town.
He further noted that the project execution would be done with the preference for local suppliers of materials and contractors.
The Governor however listed other projects under the plan to include the rehabilitation of 345 health centres in the 332 Wards of Osun State, phase two of potable water provision in 332 wards of Osun State, and phase two of the rehabilitation of 31 schools in the 30 mother local governments of Osun State.
Also listed among the projects were the dualisation of roads in Osogbo, Ede, and Ilesa.
According to him, “We are getting set to key into infrastructure financing opportunities as long as it will not add to the financial burden of the state.
“Let me declare here that the infra-plan I am about to unveil is purely state-sponsored without any loan from financial institutions.
“I must also add that we are hitting the ground running immediately after this launch. We are complying with all procurement laws and due process.
“Very importantly, our administration is ensuring localisation in the implementation process. Local content in terms of sourcing of materials and workforce are key to transfer skills and economically empower our people.”
However, reacting to the development, the Chairman of the Osun State APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo, yesterday, described the Adeleke N100 billion development programmes scenario as a scam skillfully designed to enrich some economic buccaneers close to the government.
Lawal, explained further that there could not be any other name for the phony and white-elephant projects but a gross misplacement of priority in the hand of a person statutorily saddled with the responsibility of being the caretaker of the resources of the state.
The state APC chairman reminded Adeleke that since he said he would not borrow a dime to finance the projects, the citizenry deserved the right to know the source of the funding and the modality for its settlement, “as what we are talking of is not a family enterprise which activities can be effected under the table.”
He stated that he found the development laughable as the Adeleke’s administration which he said could not successfully handle the earlier 332 boreholes it promised each of the wards in the state suddenly woke up to itemise some suspicious projects for execution within one year.
Lawal sought to know the moral consideration for the Adeleke government which he alleged was still hoarding N9 billion federal government fuel subsidy removal palliative meant to ameliorate the suffering of the people of the state four months after its payment into the coffers of the state government.
However, the Osun State chapter of the PDP described criticism of its government’s multi-billion naira infrastructure plan by the state’s APC as unpatriotic, reprehensible and a display of anti-development.
The State Chairman of the PDP, Hon. Sunday Bisi, chided the APC for playing politics with, “a development agenda that is widely adjudged to be commendable, long overdue, sustainable and very paramount to the economic revival of our dear state.
“Reading through the APC statement, we see a party that is in bewilderment and severe pain at the ingenuity, innovation and financial engineering of the Adeleke governorship.
“We see a bunch of rejected politicians who cannot fathom the depth of strategic thinking that produced the crafting of an ambitious infra plan carefully put together with an eye on sustainability and multiplier effect on expansion of state economy and well-being of poor people.”
He said the PDP government inherited a state with over 95 infrastructural deficits as at November 2022. “Our internal state infra audit when PDP took over revealed that the infrastructural decay cut across all sectors education, health, roads, water among others. “We then developed an initial emergency plan that led to the complete renovation of 31 schools, 45 kilometers of roads, 332 functioning boreholes, commencement of rehabilitation of water works, rewarding intervention in the health sector and major actions on such roads as Osogbo-Ikirun and the Osogbo ring road among others,” he added.
According to him, despite the accomplishments of the last 11 months, “our government under Senator Ademola Adeleke decided to address the infra crisis in a more holistic way, hence the infra plan. We invite the APC to drop its poverty mindset which limited its thinking and plan for the state when it was in power.
“It is true that a thief thinks everybody is a thief. Many anti-people leaders believe everybody should be against the people.”
Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
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