Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, has said that he may not ‘come’ back in 2023.
This suggests that he may recontest while he may not.
He said this in Ibadan on Friday in response to those who, according to him, are threatening him with the next election.
He said the threat was as a result of his decision not to make free money available as they wanted.
Speaking during the launch of two books by the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, titled, ’Public private partnership in health’ and ‘Driven by passion, enabled by grace.’, he said: “They do threaten me on 2023 ambition, saying I will come back again but I may or may not; that is the news for them. I will ensure that those loopholes remain blocked. The PPP, which Professor Alonge wrote about, is the saving grace for Oyo State right now. We actually call it the Alternative Project Funding Approach, which for us, is very simple.
“We go to a capital organisation with access to money and tell them that the government cannot take everything on at the same time. We will give you an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order. What that does is, it allows the government to execute projects without paying upfront 100 per cent. So, for us, by the time some of these projects are being handed over, the government would have paid only 35-38 per cent of the total cost. But in the approach of the previous government, you have to pay 30 per cent upfront for the contractor to even mobilise to site.
“If you have travelled through the road going from Eleyele/Ologuneru to Eruwa, the work that has been done right now is not up to 40 per cent. The government paid more than 60 per cent upfront and the quality is just so bad. But with the PPP that we call APFA, by the time we are paying 38 per cent, the project has been handed over to us and we have over 60 per cent of the contractor’s money with us. So, he will do a good job, otherwise, we will use the remaining 60 per cent to fix the bad portion. So, it is not just dealing with the paucity of funds but also ensuring quality. That is what we get from APFA.
“If we need honest politicians and those that will focus on the people, then we have to clean up our environment because society will throw them up. We do have people who, according to Professor Alonge, are outliers. We have many outliers out there but they are scared to come out. I want to use this opportunity to encourage them; if we have maybe two per cent of the outliers in, we need to encourage them to come out. If they occupy 70 or 80 per cent of political positions, then, we will see a major difference.”
Meanwhile, the governor has said he will not ban commercial motorcyclists in the state.
Makinde made this known on Friday during the inauguration of a newly constructed ultra-modern commercial motorcyclist and tricycle loading points in Ibadan.
He said his administration would re-organise and coordinate the operations of Okada/tricycle riders to conform with modern ways of doing transport business.
The governor maintained that when properly organised, it would be easy to differentiate individuals doing other businesses from commercial motorcycles and tricycles business operators.
He said the loading points would facilitate easy transportation of residents in the state capital.
Makinde said that the loading points were designed as a pilot scheme, saying that if the units are used judiciously, the initiative would be replicated throughout the state.
