By Waheed Adekunle
It has become imperative to demand from Senator Ademola Adeleke the whereabouts of the touted 114 tractors claimed to have been purchased for staggering N8billion.
It is no longer news that the current administration has failed the people of the state in various ways as seen in its inability to fulfil many of its electoral promises since assumption of office in November 2022.
Precisely on November 21, 2023, the state government issued a statement claiming that it had repaired some of the abandoned Omoluabi Scholar Buses procured by the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s government. Subsequently, the government claimed to have officially rolled out 19 buses that were repaired as part of efforts to cushion the harsh effects of the fuel subsidy removal, while many states of the federation, at that material time, used their grants to procure new buses for the same purpose and support the needs of their people.
The expectation was that the Osun State Government would devote the 2billion naira FG palliative grant, designed to alleviate poverty and address some of the challenges associated with fuel subsidy removal, for the purpose it was meant for. But unfortunately, our dear state couldn’t justify what the money was used for till date.
It is on record that the state government which claimed that it would purchase new buses is yet to fulfill the promise in spite various grants and supports received from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led federal government. There is no repeating the fact that the state was one of the beneficiaries of different FG’s supports: NG-cares funds, health related grants, education, agriculture, commerce, infrastructure and other related grants on various programmes.
However, it is incongruous that a government that claimed to have come to power on mantra of renaissance of critical sectors and with anticipating reality could find it extremely difficult to up its game in the last two years. Instead, the state has been entangled and subjected to ridicule in the comity of states notwithstanding the humongous funds available to the present government.
No doubting the fact that the state would have recorded a huge success if the initial fund of N2billion was judiciously expended. For a serious government, the said fund was sufficient enough to turn around the fortunes in critical sectors such as agriculture, commerce, industry, co-operative and empowerment among other social investment initiatives.
Similarly, the state government, in a bid to heed to the opposition’s call of investing massively in the agriculture sector in order to address the food scarcity and other associated menace, announced the purchase of 114 tractors.
Specifically on 25th of July, 2024, the state government confirmed the receipt of the 72 out of 114 tractors claimed to have been ordered for, a claim which later turned out to be a blatant lie as the same government later came out from the shell and finally unveiled 31 tractors as against 72 earlier claimed to have been received.
The Governor, through his spokesperson, Mr. Olawale Rasheed, in a statement issued on 25th of July, 2024, said “yesterday, the government received the first batch of 72 newly coupled tractors out of 114 tractors paid for by the Governor Ademola Adeleke led administration in a bid to boost food production and support farmers in the state”
The Governor was quoted to have made the statement while meeting with a Nordic firm interested in setting up a tractor assembly plant in Osun. But few months after, all the Governor could unveil were 31 tractors after so much noise and undue proclamations. The development was measured by discerning minds as gross inconsistencies and political jamboree to deceive the unsuspecting members of the public.
As citizens, it is high time we begin to ask the state government to come out clean as to actual number of tractors ordered for and the whereabouts of the remaining tractors and other agriculture deliverables claimed to have been purchased with public funds.
It is disheartening that a state that claimed to have expended a whooping sum of 8billion naira for the purchase of 114 tractors can only make available 31 and yet kept mute since then on the location of the remaining ones. We should not forget that the state government equally claimed to have expended 2billion naira on farm inputs claimed to have freely distributed to farmers.
Can the state government come out clean on why it lied to people on the number of tractors received? Why did state government eventually unveiled just 31 tractors out of 72 initially claimed to be in its possession? Where are the remaining tractors? Who are the beneficiaries of the claimed 2billion worth farm inputs? How many farmers benefitted from the farm inputs particularly the touted tractors? Except the day the 31 tractors were unveiled, nothing has been heard about them hence the need for government to come out clean.
Until these pertinent questions are sufficiently answered, the state government would continue to be seen as deceptive.
Though we could see the pictures where cassava stems were distributed to farmers particularly the less privileged interested in farming, a scenario that created bad impression and questioned the sensitivity of government to our individual and collective plights as citizens.
The time has come to rise up and hold the Osun state government more accountable as deceit has become the order of the day.
May God Heal Our Land!