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The Oyo State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described a People’s Democratic Party returnee in the state, Seyi Makinde as being paranoid over his ambition, saying that Makinde’s recent alleged spurious claims in the media are indications of the state of his disturbed mind and level of desperation.
The APC in a statement by AbdulAzeez Olatunde, its director, Media, Research and Strategy, said that it was only a myopic mind that would describe the 2018 Budget of stabilisation passed by the State House of Assembly as the Budget of the rich. Makinde was also faulted for not itemising the areas that specifically targeted the rich.
The party, justifying the budget said, it was in line with best practices and was broken into four broad segments of Administration, Social, Economic and Transfers, with programmes and projects that benefit the entire Oyo State citizenry. “A State’s Budget cannot specifically target the rich,” it said.
The Oyo APC spokesman said that the prudent way the Abiola Ajimobi administration has managed and funded previous budgets was manifested in the way the government has reduced its salary arrears from seven months to one month, executing various developmental projects and various welfare packages, despite the daunting economic challenges facing the entire country.
Olatunde said that more than half of the so-called debt stock of the state government was attributed to arrears of workers’ emolument, that is, arrears of gratuities which require no interest payment which predate the current administration.
He said that all the other components of debt are attributable to payment of salaries e.g Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP), salary bail-out of 2015 among others which were accessed by almost all the states, adding, “It is in the public domain that interventions and bail-outs were given to all the states to ameliorate hardship in the country,” he said.
According to Olatunde, “The terms the Federal Government (FG) used to give the states loans are liberal terms with the overriding motive to bring succor to the workers/people and all the states of the federation got it. It is a known fact that throughout the world, organisations, both public and private use debt and borrowings as a cheaper way of funding their operations, hence, the debt leveraging by states.
“For some time now, Makinde has been ranting in the media to gain publicity and sustain the failed reputation of his party in the mindset of the people. We will like to remind him that his antics of the pull-him-down syndrome will not sway people’s interest towards him.
“About three weeks ago, we offered Makinde tuition in elementary mathematics but with his recent outburst, we are convinced he needs additional course in elementary Public Sector Finance, to be offered free of charge by the APC.”
He said that the humanitarian and welfarist record of Governor Ajimobi was second to none and that no administration in the state had surpassed “our achievements in empowerment and helping the needy”.
“We will not rest on our oars and no amount of distraction from desperate political failures and failed party founders can make us change our plans and resolutions to make the people of the state benefit immensely from our social welfare packages,” he further said.
Olatunde stated that the administration had empowered and provided succor to about a million and one hundred thousand people in Oyo State through its welfarist programmes, including the Ajumose Food bank, poverty alleviation and other empowerment programmes in the last seven years especially through the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community Development Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation.
He pointed out that 612,000 people have benefitted from the 351 wards in the state from the Ajumose food bank as well as 6600 orphanages, 3000 widows and 6000 aged, noting that another set of 100,396 grassroots women have also been empowered with deep freezers, generators and N20,000 investment seed money to make them self-sufficient.
Akinremi Feyisipo, Ibadan
