Oyo State Governor, ’Seyi Makinde, on Thursday, declared that his administration has employed the principles of transparency and integrity to activate good governance in the state.
The governor said that his administration has been able to achieve success because it has been transparent with the finances of the state.
Governor Makinde stated this at the 11th Chief Emeka Anyaoku Awards/Lecture Series on Good Governance, organised by the Youth Affairs International Foundation, held at IACD Library and Resource Centre, Jericho, Ibadan.
He equally used the opportunity to address the issue raised by an APC chieftain, Chief Wahabi Gbadeyanka, who had said in a statement to newsmen, that accruals from the Federation Account to the 33 Local Governments in Oyo State amounted to N12.7billion in three months but only N330million was released by the State Government to the Local councils.
The APC chieftain had claimed that the N12.7biilion represented the total amount that the federal government credited the state as allocation of the council areas, adding that that the said N330million was shared by the 33 councils and the 35 Local council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the State.
He queried what development can come from such a meagre resources to local areas?
Responding, Governor makinde said “That brings me to the issue of constitutional review; take local government autonomy. I have seen flyers alleging that in Oyo State, the local governments got a certain amount of money from the federal allocations that accrued to them; that each local government, for instance, got N260 million, from the federal allocation, for April.
“But how much was this local government supposed to pay for the salaries of primary school teachers, which is the primary responsibility of the local government?
“How much was this local government supposed to pay for the primary health care system and how much of that money is the local government supposed to pay for waste management within the local government? Those are primary responsibilities of the local government system.
“Anyway, you are talking about this money coming from the federation account. What happened to the autonomy if federation account money dries off, which is also a possibility? “Why are you not talking about autonomy relative to what the local government can generate and what the local government can contribute to the common purse? So, those are some of the challenges we see in the federation.
“We are given a constitution with the number of local governments expressly specified in there and you cannot do anything about it. So, the state should be required to create as many local government areas as possible for their own development rather than the regimented local government system they put in our constitution.”
The governor insisted that for there to be good governance, there are critical issues that should be looked into, including state police, devolution of powers and local government autonomy.
He noted that for states to be able to perform optimally, unlike what obtains in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, they should be free to create as many local governments as possible for administrative convenience, stating that until some of these issues are addressed, there will continue to be challenges to good governance.
The governor also pointed out that in order to deliver good governance, it is imperative for public officials to be able to take in criticisms both constructive or otherwise, noting that as the campaign begins, he is aware that his opponents will come at him with lots of half-baked facts and not-well-thought-out positions.
Also speaking at the event, renowned diplomat and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Chief Anyaoku, said that the 2023 election is a watershed for Nigeria, adding that citizens must vote for politicians who will prioritise the revamping of the nation’s governance system.
