Proposed Procurement Of Two Aircrafts By Governor Seyi Makinde: More Questions Than Answers.
I have been saying it times without number. Governor Seyi Makinde is a careful planner.
I am not surprised. He is an Engineer. He must be very good at planning.
However, is he a strategic planner? I think not.
The only reason he appears to be fantastic is because we live in interesting times where money does a lot of things.
Our societies have become so rotten to the extent that people no longer care about integrity and legacy.
All that matters this days is the end. To hell with the means.
Governor Seyi Makinde is planning to procure two aircrafts for Oyo state.
Since I read stories about the proposed procurement, I have been waiting to see if anyone, most especially, the Media will ask the right questions but alas! Not even one.
According to Governor Makinde, he intends to procure the two aircrafts for surveillance purposes and an airstrip is also proposed around Igbeti area of Oke-Ogun where, I think the aircrafts could land and take off from.
The total Budgeted funds for the proposed procurement of the aircrafts is a whooping 7.7 billion Naira and according to Governor Makinde, the funds are available.
He is just waiting for the approval by the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA.
He made the declaration yesterday when he called in on a program anchored by Edmund Obilo, ‘State Affairs ‘.
For me, that program, yesterday, appears to be pre-meditated but I have no issues with that.
Governor Makinde has invested so much to have control of the Media space in Oyo state and his investments are yielding results. Like I said, no problems with that.
However, the Media show of yesterday, rather than helped him, merely exposed him as someone who someone who has so much to hide from the public.
That is why I said that the Governor is not a strategic planner.
I have conducted researches about aircrafts and I think the Governor owes the public explanations about the specific aircrafts he is planning to procure.
I have listened to him and others who spoke in support of his actions. It does appear like the only reason he is planning to procure this aircrafts is attached to maintenance of security.
One would wonder, if you want air support for intelligence gathering as a state Governor, why not helicopters?
Where is the comprehensive plan to accommodate the deployment of aircrafts within the present security architecture in Oyo state?
Like I said, I have conducted some research about the type of aircrafts that can land and take off from airstrips and the results I got support single engine aeroplane.
Is that the type of aircrafts Governor Makinde is targeting or what?
Even, I am at a complete loss at the 7.7 billion Naira Budgeted for the procurement of the aircrafts.
7.7 billion Naira, for two aircrafts needed for security surveillance? Ha! Governor Makinde must tell us the specific aircrafts he is planning to procure.
He must also tell the public about the comprehensive plan he has to accommodate the aircrafts within the present structures of the security architecture in Oyo state.
When will the construction of the airstrip begin? When will it be completed? How will the aircrafts function? Who will be in control of the aircrafts? Is it the Amotekun and if so, do they have trained personnel who could effectively handle the aircrafts or is it the Police or who?
I have said it and I am repeating for emphasis sake, what are the specifications of the aircrafts? All of us must be able to ascertain that the money Budgeted and released actually matched what will be procured because, unless the Office of the National Security Adviser declines approval, the issue of the procurement of the aircrafts is already finalized at the state level.
Now, I want to ask the Governor, how well equipped and trained are the Amotekun Corp of Oyo state?
What is the state of the roads in the rural areas?
How mobile are the Amotekun Corp?
I went to Igboora yesterday with some elderly persons.
The state of the road between Ido and Eruwa was so terrible that we had to damn the consequences and we came back to Ibadan through the Maya-Ado-Awaye-Iseyin-Moniya route.
I also heard that Governor Makinde himself and the ‘ August visitors ‘ who attended the Coronation of Samuel Adebayo Adegbola as the Eleruwa of Eruwa suffered same fate.
I have been traveling around Oyo state recently and all I have been seeing are terrible link roads within the rural areas.
Governor Makinde will agree with me that mobility is key to having an effective security response to alerts.
Suppose the aircrafts are procured eventually and they are doing their jobs as they should, will the terrible road infrastructures within the rural areas not constitute an impediment to the responses by ground support?
Isn’t it wiser to take care of the problems on the ground before he seeks air support?
Governor Makinde and the Commandant of the Amotekun Corp needs to brief the public about the status of the Amotekun Corp with respect to availability of ammunition and mobility and let us see if the Corp is indeed well mobilized and ready to accommodate and compliment air support.
What is the number of pump action machine guns available for the Amotekun Corp throughout Oyo state?
What is the number of Motorcycles available?
In Governor Makinde’s shoes, I will rather release half of the 7.7 billion Naira to equip the Amotekun Corp with pump action machine guns, motorcycles, information gadgets and spend the rest on attending to road infrastructures within their areas of operation and incorporation of local hunters to compliment the efforts of the Amotekun Corp.
We must not lose sights of the accompanying maintenance issues of the aircrafts.
I am of the strong view that, the proposed procurement of the aircrafts is a misplaced priority.
I am not also comfortable with the fact that the state Government is hiding the identities of its contractors for several contracts recently awarded.
I am aware that just recently, a citizen of Oyo state wrote a letter to the Oyo state Government, asking for information about the contractors who have been awarded the contracts to handle the renovations of the Oyo state Government House, Construction of bridges and interchanges as part of the Circular road, asphaltic upgrade of some roads, the direct intervention in the operations and maintenance of the Light Up Oyo Solar Project and of course, procurement of two aircrafts.
The Government of Oyo state wasted no time in refusing the request by the citizen.
What is Governor Makinde hiding?
Unfortunately, the Media have been tamed to remain perpetually silent with the exception of just a few ones who are still demonstrating their commitments to the ethics of the profession.
How on earth does Governor Makinde want to convince a sensible person that the further Budgeted funds for the maintenance of the Light Up Oyo is justified?
This is a project that was initially awarded for the cost of # 28 billion but which was varied to over #32 billion.
Governor Makinde himself admitted that the contractor failed in the delivery of the project in less than two years of delivery.
This project, to the best of my knowledge, is attached to the 33Local Governments.
Governor Makinde promised to investigate the circumstances that led to the failure of the project but failed to do so.
Now, hundreds of millions of Naira are yet again released for the maintenance of a failed project and those who interviewed Makinde failed to ask him questions about such recklessness?
I have been challenging Governor Makinde to a public debate all this while but he has refused to pick the gauntlet.
He can’t choose to free his tongue at selected and controlled environments where he knew he is assured of protection.
He is a public servant who is answerable to the public.
I know that some Media personalities have been recruited to control narratives in his favor but we will from time to time, continue to expose both himself and the bias Media personalities.
We have kept asking Governor Makinde to confirm or deny the fact that monthly Allocations from Abuja have tripled since Tinubu removed fuel subsidies.
We have equally been asking him to tell the public, exactly how much he has received on behalf of the state and the 33 Local Governments since monthly Allocations have been increased.
We equally asked him to tell us, if the monthly Allocations have been increased as the Federal Government claimed, how has that impacted on governance in Oyo state?
It is obvious that Governor Makinde has so much money to throw around now, is this not a reflection of the increase monthly Allocations from Abuja?
Increased monthly Allocations which is intended to cushion the negative effects of the removal of fuel subsidies on the economy but which Governor Makinde has chosen to be wasting on misplaced priority projects?
Sadly, he is the one who has been posing as a friend of the masses, condemning the Federal Government economic policies which he said has occasioned untold hardships on Nigerians.
What an hypocrisy! Talking about the policies of the Federal Government and how it has contributed to hardships without acknowledging the steps taken by the same Federal Government to alleviate the sufferings!!
I heard him told Edmund Obilo that the 7.7 billion Naira meant for the procurement of the aircrafts is readily available.
I thought Edmund Obilo would ask him if the funds were a proceed of the sale of another assets of Oyo state.
We have been saying that Governor Makinde has been illegally and recklessly channelling the increased monthly Allocations for Oyo state and the 33 Local Governments to dubious contracts awarded to his cronies but the Media would not take him up on such crucial issues.
I may be perceived as a lone voice but this lone voice will make so much noise to the extent that the perpetuators of evil will lose the appetite for sleeping and their collaborators will also feel the heat.
No matter how the section of Governor Makinde’s Media might try to control the narratives to suit the interests of their pay master, we will continue to redirect the traffic and ensure that we expose them by asking questions that Governor Makinde would dare not answer.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
