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N8 Billion to provide electricity for Govt House, Secretariat exorbitant. Prof Akande tells Makinde
The Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande, has counselled the Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, that the award of over N8 billion for an Indepedent Power Project to provide uninterrupted electricity for the Government House and State Secretariat is exorbitant and unjustifiable.
In a statement issuesd in Ibadan on Sunday, Akande said that Makinde’s government seems to have lost sight of the primary problems facing the state “in its choice of awarding contracts at gargantuan cost to matters that do not impact on the lives of the people nor enhance the economy of the state.”
According to the NCC chairman, the primary challenges of Oyo State are youth unemployment,decaying education and health infrastructure and widespread poverty.
He noted that the choice of contracts daily churned out by the state government does not seem to take cognizance of the problems facing the good people of the state, adding that the “contracts seem to be determined by the fancy of the government and the greed of the contractors and career proposal purveyors.”
“A state wallowing in youth unemployment should not priotise the comfort of Government House over the future of the youths and the thousands of market women and farmers seeking government support to improve their lives.
“The government is committing present and future generations to debt that will not enhance the economy of the state nor improve the well-being of the people. It is untenable that government will commit N8 billion to uninterrupted supply to Government House when thousands of youths could have been empowered with such funds through a youth empowerment programme that will promote entrepreneurship in agriculture, digital economy and other engagements that will surely enhance the economy of the state.
“I can only imagine the number of our primary and secondary schools whose quality of service delivery would be enhanced with the commitment of N8 billion to the education sector or the number of hospitals that could be brought to higher standard to provide quality health care delivery with N 8billion.
“We plead with Governor Makinde to streamline his financial commitment of the state in line with the interest of the greater number of the people of Oyo State and not the comfort of the few,”the statement added.