Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, says he has received threats
over the forthcoming 2023 governorship election in the state, because he has
blocked loopholes in the system.
According to a statement on Friday by Taiwo Adisa, the
governor’s chief press secretary, Makinde disclosed this in Ibadan, the Oyo
state capital, during the public presentation of two books authored by Temitope
Alonge, immediate past chief medical director (CMD) of the University College
Hospital.
The governor said some persons who benefitted from “free
money” in the past — which he claimed his administration has now blocked access
to — have threatened to get back at him if he runs for governorship in 2023.
He, however, insisted that he will not succumb to such
threats.
“There are people within the system that are used to free
money, and they are still there. And all they can say to me is that I am
messing with their honey pots and have blocked loopholes they are making money
from,” he was quoted to have 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 governor also noted that the alternative projects
funding approach, which his administration has adopted, is the best way to
speed up infrastructural development in the state.
“The PPP, which Alonge wrote about, is the saving grace for
Oyo state right now. We actually call it APFA, Alternative Project Funding
Approach, which for us, is very simple,” he said.
“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 percent.
“So, for us, by the time some of these projects are being
handed over, the government would have paid only 35 to 38 percent of the total
cost. But in the approach of the previous government, you have to pay 30
percent upfront for the contractor to even mobilise to site.”
Speaking on his books, Alonge said he wrote them to provide
information about other models of public-private partnership that can be
deployed in the health sector.
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