Ondo: PDP Says New Govt House, Wasteful; Govt – It’s Being Funded Through Bond

By Ayodele Oni

The People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), Ondo State, on Thursday flayed the motive behind the construction of a N2 billion Government House by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s administration, which the Party pointed out, has found it difficult to pay workers salaries.

Speaking during a press conference in Akure, the State Chairman of the Party, Mr  Fatai Adams, stated that: “While the present administration of Akeredolu has a backlog of un-paid salaries of workers, it is proposing to build a 2-billion naira new Government House in Akure.

“This is not only ridiculous, but the surest evidence that the Governor has completely lost direction. Dr Olusegun Mimiko, Akeredeolu’s predessesor, built a very befitting Government House, in 2013, a few years before Akeredolu assumed the reins of government.

“To spend two billion Naira of taxpayers money on another Government House, at this time, is the height of callousness and wastefulness.

“Considering the terrible economic situation and hunger in the land, is it proper or reasonable for a government to embark on a 2-billion Naira project that will only serve very few individuals, when millions of people are languishing in despicable penury and dying without basic healthcare service delivery?”

Mr Adams also condemned the mass exodus of Medical Personnel from the state due to Government’s inability to meet their salary obligations.

“Here in Ondo State, we are seriously alarmed by the unfortunate resignation of over 105 Medical Doctors from the Ondo State Public Service over the inability of the Government to pay the medical personnel their due salaries and hazard allowances as, and when due.

“Apart from the failure of Government to pay, Governor Akeredolu, unapologetically, told the Doctors in a widely televised program that the services of the Doctors were not indispensable.

“I’m sure you’ll all recall that Ondo State was the destination for Medical Tourism in the South West because of the first class service delivery found here under  the PDP Administration.

“According to the Nigerian Medical Association’s records, no Medical House Officer has been employed by the Ondo State Government since 2019, a situation that is responsible for the poor services rendered in the hospitals.

“The available few hands are already overwhelmed and overstretched by the high number of patients coming for medical attention. This is very pathetic. Our people are dying unattended to! This portends grave danger especially in a period when all manners of epidemic rear their ugly heads.”

In its reaction to the criticisms by the opposition PDP, the State Government, through the Commissioner for Information, Mr Donald Ojogo, stated that: “It is a conceded fact that an opposition party is at liberty to criticise any Government including of course, the indiscretional display of ignorance on issues of governance.

“The misplaced allusion to the Governor’s Lodge, as well as the weak nexus between same and the issue of salaries betrays an unpardonable amnesia on the part of a politcal party.

“It becomes immeasurably uncanny if such party had left the stage with the most uncharitable legacy of ‘unpaid seven months salaries ‘.

“Perhaps, PDP deserves to know that the envisioned Governor’s Lodge is among the plethora of iconic projects targeted with the yet-to-be-fully accessed BOND.

“Suggesting, therefore, that Government should ‘shelve’ the project for salaries clearly shows a gross lack of knowledge of how Bonds work. They are, a Special Purpose means of funding developmental initiatives, inconvertible to cash, hence undrawable by anyone.

“Rather than abandon the welfare of workers for months without remorse under any guise, the Ondo State Government led by Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, shall, at all times, evolve ingenious means to address the issue of salaries in the face of excruciating global economic challenges.”

The Governor had said that Governor’s Lodge, built by Mimiko had structural defects, while the one before that was full of termites. It is not yet known if the Mimiko Lodge will be pulled down, meaning a waste of billions of Naira, or be converted into another use.