The Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation has warned Governor Seyi Makinde against diverting the pound 55 million – approximately N85 billion – French Government concessional loan secured for the improvement of decrepit health care facilities in Oyo State to hastily conceived and politically motivated projects, months to the end of his administration.
The organisation, in a statement, said the facility represented a major financial obligation on the state’s future with repayment of the N85billion scheduled to start with the next administration.
Alli’s campaign organisation, therefore, warned that the loan be deployed strictly to salvage the deplorable health facilities in the state, urging Makinde to resist the temptation to divert the money to fund his presidential aspiration.
‘It has come to our notice that Governor Makinde has constituted a committee to design how the money will be swiftly spent under the guise of executing some projects four months to the general election and eight months to the end of his government.
‘It will be recalled that Oyo State House of Assembly in June this year approved the governor’s curious request to raise N200billion bond to re-finance the choking debt into which Makinde has plunged the state.
‘Coming at an election season, a cloud of doubt hangs over the sincerity of the Makinde-led government on these hurriedly conceived and ill-thought-out financial decisions that will further increase the already heavy burden imposed on the state since he assumed office in 2019.
‘It beggars belief that these developments are coming against the background that monthly allocations to the state and the 33 local government councils have quadrupled in the last three and a half years as a result of the removal of petrol subsidy.
‘The huge allocations are an empowerment for states and local government councils to mitigate the effects of fuel subsidy removal, a policy which has rightly ended years of borrowing to sustain the fraudulent subsidy regime,’ the campaign council said.
Although the organisation said it would support any genuine initiative aimed at improving health care delivery in the state, it insisted that the Makinde administration must provide full disclosure on the loan’s terms, disbursement schedule, contractors, procurement procedures, implementation timeline and beneficiary hospitals.
‘Oyo State citizens and residents deserve to know how every euro will be spent. The money must not be seen as another opportunity for inflated contracts, hurried procurements, questionable consultancy fees or projects disguised to primarily fund political activities.
‘With the administration approaching its end, Governor Makinde must resist the temptation to commit the state to opaque contracts or commence projects that cannot be completed and independently verified before he leaves office.
‘The campaign organisation also calls on the Oyo State House of Assembly, civil society organisations, professional health care bodies and the media to closely monitor the utilisation of the facility.
‘The people of Oyo State need functional hospitals, trained medical personnel, essential medicines, modern equipment and accessible healthcare-not cosmetic renovations, abandoned structures or projects existing only in government publicity materials,’ the statement said.
The organisation believes that transparency and measurable value should guide public borrowing, noting that every loan contracted in the name of the people must produce visible and sustainable benefits for them.
It said it would continue to scrutinise the deployment of state resources, ”especially at this crucial time and hold the administration accountable for every curious expenditure.”