Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde
declared at the weekend that his government has, in its first two years,
increased the state’s Internally Generated Revenue by close to N15 Billion
without increasing taxes.
The governor, who stated this on
Saturday evening at the 41st Omo Aj’orosun Day Celebration, in Ibadan, also
took time out to educate his main challenger in the 2019 election, Mr. Bayo
Adelabu, and opposition elements on the essence of the Alternative Project
Funding Approach (APFA) of his administration.
He stated that the Approach has
helped the state in bridging its infrastructure deficit, while also helping to
expand the economy and increase the state’s IGR.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the governor’s words came few hours after Adelabu, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 election, openly lied that the state has only increased its IGR by N300 Million monthly since Makinde assumed office.
The governor said: “Within the
first two years, we increased the IGR by close to N15b. We did it without
raising taxes. We did it just by appealing and bringing more people into the
tax net.
“The motorcycle operators were
paying 200 Naira before we got into government and we reduced it to N100.”
The statement recalled that the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had in its 2020 report indicated that the
state’s IGR witnessed a 42 percent growth, a growth which the governor
explained, was achieved by bringing in more people into the tax net rather than
raising taxes.
Governor Makinde, who felicitated
members of the Aj’orosun Club, promised to donate a bus to the club on Monday,
also called on residents of the state to support the government’s efforts on
security.
The governor warned against
politicising the security challenges in the state, stating that instead of
criticizing without suggesting solutions as some are wont to do, everyone has
to contribute to making the state safer.
He said: “On the issue of
insecurity they are politicizing, there is available data. There is common
sense too on some of these things. But all of us have to contribute in one way
or the other. I want to beg you: Support us on the security architecture we
have put out there.
“The arm-chair critics would just
keep ranting and if you ask them to proffer a solution, they lack it. All of us
must contribute, especially in the aspect of voluntary policing. The
vigilantes, the Mogajis, our traditional institutions should come with us. I
told someone that I cannot imagine Oyo State without Amotekun and it did not
exist before we got into government.
“Before I got into government,
security agencies could not effectively communicate security information
between Ibadan and Ogbomoso. But we have strengthened the architecture we met
when we came in. We have spent more than a quarter of N1b to put in place
security communication equipment throughout Oyo State.
“Now, we are asking the banks
that we want to integrate the CCTVs they have installed into our own security
control centre. You installed this government and we are accountable to you.
So, if you see something, say something to us,” Governor Makinde said.
He also stated that he took time
to listen to an interview by Adelabu on Fresh FM, with the intention of picking
valuable points, but expressed disappointment that the former CBN Deputy
Governor’s criticisms were misguided.
He said that the politician’s takes
on the APFA and the resolution of the agelong ownership crisis on the Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso were flawed.
“This morning, I intentionally
listened to the interview of my brother, Mr. Bayo Adelabu, on Fresh FM.
“So, I listened to Adelabu to
know if there is anything I could pick from his argument. One of the things he
criticized was our adoption of the Alternative Project Funding Approach (APFA)
instead of Build, Operate and Transfer. I stand before you today to ask and challenge
them to tell us the project they have done successfully under the Build,
Operate and Transfer model in Oyo State, even at the federal level. So, for us,
we thoroughly studied a lot of things before we concluded on APFA.
“There are two elements in APFA.
One, there is a link between the existing infrastructural deficit and the
internally generated revenue. When you tackle or reduce the infrastructure
deficit, you are invariably increasing your IGR. And if we want to improve on
our IGR to make more money for our government, we have to bridge the
infrastructure deficit.
“What are the challenges usually
associated with government projects that lead to abandoned projects? The past
governments failed to see the end from the beginning of the projects. They started
by paying 30 percent to the contractor and those who wanted to get their 5 or
10 percent got theirs.
“When the contractor got the work
done to a certain point, there would not be money to continue to fund the
project. As a result, the contractor would resort to reducing the quality of
the project and destroying things more.
“So, we adopted APFA because it
is solving many problems for us. “One, most of the contractors, by the time
they complete any of our projects, the highest amount we must have paid them is
35-45 per cent.
“So, a contractor that is still
having 55 percent of his money with the government does a quality job so as to
get his balance.
“It has been a model that is
working for us as we are bridging the infrastructure gap in Oyo State and
increasing our IGR.
“Secondly, Adelabu argued that
the sole ownership of LAUTECH is wasteful. Some people, before we came into
government, met with me and said it is only Oyo State that does not have a
state-owned university. They went ahead to establish a Technical University
here and we did not know if it truly belonged to Oyo State or a private person
not until we got into government. But I can tell you that the amount of money
that came out of the coffers of Oyo State to the Technical University, which
has no record in the state’s budget, is over 15 Billion Naira.”
The governor added that his
administration has been implementing the Oyo State Roadmap for Accelerated
Development 2019-2023, which he described as a pact between his government and
the people of the state, stating that by the end of the tenure, the government
will be evaluated based on those things it promised.
He, however, counseled opposition
politicians not to pull down his government or destroy the state because of
their ambition, saying: “I want to say that God will have mercy on those eyeing
this seat. If God wishes to put them on the seat, they don’t need to destroy
the state.
“They don’t need to pull down the
current government and destroy our state. They should focus on things they know
they can do better and sell them to the people of Oyo State.”
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