Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, was on the state’s broadcasting corporation recently, where he answered questions from panelists and residents on the activities of his government in the first 100 days in office. Below are excerpts from the interview session as monitored by KATELYN OBIAGELI OGUNPITAN
There are many projects scattered around the state, which have been uncompleted or abandoned by previous administrations, what should the people of the state look forward to in this administration?
I actually passed along Iwere-Ile road and noticed that close to the election time, the past administration laid asphalt to a particular point and stopped. I am very sure that where the asphalt covered is not up to one kilometre before the election ended. There are many projects that have been abandoned since 2010 but I have promised the people that good governance supersedes the gimmick of politics. Because of this, I told the contractors who were paid by the immediate past government but abandoned the projects that they should go back to the site and do the work they collected money to execute. If they do well, we will allow them to finish with the work irrespective of the party that gave the project out. As long as it is Oyo State’s money, they can go ahead. This administration always wants to see value for any money spent on whatever project.
When I went to inspect the Silo project in Awe, I understood that the state government had paid over N1billion for the project but zero value is what is on ground for the state. The contractor handling the project said the case was in court because he had not been paid completely but I asked him to withdraw the case from court so that we could sit down one-on-one to discuss and settle the matter once and for all. During our discussion, he said if he could get another N350m, the job would be completed and I immediately approved the money to be given to the contractor. I learnt that he has gone back to site and he has been given an ultimatum of four months to complete the project.
So, for us, it does not matter when a project starts, even if it was awarded during the time of Governors Akala or Ladoja, what is important to us is the value it will add to the state. Our government will continue to show commitment to whatever will add value to the people of this state.
For instance, we have revoked the Moniya-Iseyin road construction project. But right now, we are in the process of re-awarding the road project to a more competent contractor. The last time I also passed along the road from Iseyin that leads to Saki during my campaign, I saw the nature of the road. Perhaps the people working on that road designed it in a way that one part must be tarred and the other should not be tarred. But what is left now is to just tar the remaining part and it is among the project that is surviving. If you look at it, you will observe that we signed a budget into law. The past government came up with a budget of N280billion. Meanwhile, all the money that has been realised till this moment is N70billion. So, how come they have budget of N280 billion? That was why we reduced it because it is completely unrealistic. We thought that we need to cut our clothes according to our material but not to our size, because a small cloth is easy to sew.
A lot of controversies surround the local government system. What is your government doing on the election into the local governments, which are the closest to the people at grassroots?
Actually, we are working on the local government administration. When we came in, we observed there were some cases in court but some of the cases have been disposed right now, so the coast is now clear. Those who conducted the local government election did not follow the provisions of the constitution duly and we don’t want to make same mistake. We have Local Council Development Areas and we cannot conduct election into LCDAs but what we can do is to appoint caretakers to manage the areas while we plan to conduct the election into the LGAs as provided by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
We will work with Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) within a short time and conduct election within the first quarter of 2020. Preparation will start once we conclude our internal arrangement with the OYSIEC. So, I enjoin the people of Oyo State to exercise little patience on this. Truly speaking, it is God that is piloting the affairs of governance in Oyo State and the people of the state also need to cooperate with the government to take the state to an enviable height. If we do the needful as a government and the people also, on their part, do what they are supposed to do, the Oyo State we all long for is what we will see.
You have made a lot of lofty promises on the areas of health, security, education and economy expansion, including provision of 100 security patrol vehicles. Have they become operational? There are also talks about the CCTV project embarked upon by the last administration, what will your government do about it?
I think we need to always pass our messages across to the people comprehensively. A secure and safe environment is what we cannot compromise. If you look at it very well, investors, investments and foreign money won’t come to an environment that is not safe.
Concerning the security vehicles, in a matter of days, you will start seeing them on the streets. I always say that good governance is beyond razzmatazz. I rejected a proposal to paint the State government Secretariat because the furniture, key governance issues, computers, toilets and other things that are inside are not in good condition. I can do all these things inside even without anybody knowing. We have not been going around to announce some of the things we have done and those that we would do but silently, we are going about our service to the people of Oyo State. I may or may not commission the 100 vehicles, as it does not mean anything much to us but we are after people seeing them on the street and having confidence that they are in an environment where they can go to bed with their two eyes closed. I think that is what is important.
Concerning the CCTV cameras, we have some of them in store before now. During the electioneering campaign, I did say I was going to scrap them but when we got in here, we checked what the past administration has done and we observed it may not be possible to identify or go after offenders with the CCTV cameras. But of course, they have already spent money on the project before we came in and we thought scrapping them would be a disservice to the people. So, we decided that we will keep them, enhance them and, maybe in a few years, we can get to the point where it would be useful to identify and trace offenders.
You have also said you will improve on health care delivery. What will your government do on the mortality rate of pregnant women and children in the state?
The statistics being put out there could be real or not but what is most important for us is to go to our primary health centres and also the state-owned institutions to know what exactly they have there. This is also same with the health family.
If I ask for the number of patients being attended to in our hospitals and the number of doctors we have on ground to attend to these patients, you will be surprised that they may not be available. How much do they budget for drugs they get in the hospitals? What we will find out is that the amount that is being released does not tally with the drugs being procured. If you also ask from them how they register patients, you will find out they don’t have registers. There have not been records and we are starting from the basis. We are looking at how we can capture the data in a reliable manner. No offence to the past administration is intended but it is our responsibility to do the needful as a government. If there was mistake in the past, we don’t have to continue but what we need to do is to make some corrections. There is also a programme which the World Bank is supporting on nutrition to ensure that pregnant women deliver safely. There are many primary health care centres that have no equipments and working facilities.
I can remember that when we got to the Radiology Unit of Adeoyo Hospital, Yemetu,we saw all the facilities inside,but we were told that they have never been used since they were installed. Meanwhile, I saw letters from 2010 that everything was working perfectly there because I went with the contractor that installed the machine in 2010. So, we do have challenges and that is why we have been encouraging people to say something to us when they see something. This is because if we keep silent about everything, we will continue to go in the same circle. I believe that the Commissioner for Health would perform better in this area, considering his antecedents and wealth of experience. He has been in the system for long and he used to be the Permanent Secretary in the same ministry. So, we were deliberate in looking for hands that can assist us to quickly turn things around. And whatever it is that is required of us to release as resources to get things on track will surely be provided for.
When I got to Adeoyo Hospital, Ring-Road, Oyo State already paid General Electric GE close to N1bn or thereabout but they said must be paid the balance of N200m before they could come to fix the radiographic equipment. We have done it. We provided the money. We will walk the talk. We are not saying that we are perfect or once we decree something, it will happen immediately. No, we need to follow through the due process and our feedback mechanism will be such that we are not going to be fooled. I am not going to commission a project that will work while I am commissioning it and when I turn my back, it will stop working. Anyone who tries this in Oyo State in the next four years would be dealt with decisively. If Oyo State is providing the resources, we have to get back the value for whatever the state is giving out.
You approved N500,000 each for indigenes of Oyo State in the Nigerian Law School in the 2019/2020 backlog session, a development that has led to protests from the main batch of Oyo State students in the Law School. Similarly, other students are wondering if the bursary would reach all Oyo State students or just be restricted to Law Students.
Concerning the Law School students who were given bursary award, those who came to me were the backlog session students and we did our research and got to know that the school fee each student pay is over N200,000. The last time they were given the bursary award was in 2012.
So, those who came to me brought their list and I looked at it carefully and we approved an amount we know the state was capable of providing. So, let me say sorry to the main batch of Law Students, by next year, we will plan for both the main and supplementary batches. We will lump everybody together and ensure that we are consistent with whatever amount we want to be paying them.
Moving forward, those students we have not able to reach out now will be placed under the scholarship board and we will have a proper estimate and budget for them. That was why this government separated the Ministry of Budget Planning from the Ministry of Finance. I can also assure that there won’t be abandoned projects, because we will properly plan for those projects.