The Progressives Minded Forum, an Osun All Progressives Congress (APC) group has described as shameful and hypocritical, the silence of the State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola on the refund for Federal Government roads constructed by his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola.
In a press statement signed by Sunday Oriowo, the group’s Coordinator and issued to DAILY POST, Monday, they stated that the silence coming from a government claiming to be transparent and prudent on finances was not only hypocritical but irresponsible.
It stated that for dragging the previous administration on the issue of the controversial debt profile of the state, it was morally wrong for the governor and his cabinet members not to disclose the refund.
The group noted that instead of misleading the public that Aregbesola left only a debt profile for the Oyetola administration, it would have been fair and sincere to come out and state that the former governor also left assets that have turned over N11.9 billion or N13 billion on road infrastructure alone, according to the Finance and Works Commissioners.
The Progressives Minded Forum also observed that in that wise, it was sure that there were other funds that the Oyetola administration would have collected as refund for some of the Aregbesola’s interventions in health, agriculture, education and others.
“As a matter of fact, we know that the much-talked about rehabilitation of Primary Health Centres in the State was part of the assets left behind by Aregbesola. It is a known fact that the Aregbesola’s administration won the $20million Save One Million Lives (SOMIL), a World Bank Project, at the tale of his administration in 2018.
“The fund is currently being used by Oyetola administration to rehabilitate Primary Health Centres and presenting it as a major achievement without giving credit to Aregbesola. We challenge the state government to make full disclosure of amounts it has received on the projects done by Aregbesola in roads, health and other sectors,” the group said.
They explained that it was obvious that the present administration in the State was reaping from the profits of the Aregbesola projects and programmes without the courage to disclose such because of the politics of hatred that it had instigated against his benefactor.
They asked the state governor to officially inform the people of the state of the total refunds by the Federal Government on the federal roads constructed by his predecessor.
“We believe that there are other accruals to the state that the Oyetola administration is not disclosing because of the politics of bitterness the governor and his team are playing,” they added.
A former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the last administration in the state, Sikiru Ayedun had last week accused the State government of receiving a sum of N48 billion refund for the roads constructed by the Aregbesola from the Federal Government.
This prompted the Commissioner for Works, to announce that the state obtained a refund of N13 billion while his counterpart in the Ministry of Finance claimed a refund of N11.9 billion on the federal government roads.
The group noted that the development had seen the commissioners in the Oyetola cabinet quoting different figures, which had further put the government in an embarrassing situation.
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