Local Government Administration Under Governor Seyi Makinde Worst Ever In The History Of Democracy

Ajimobi’s Caretaker Chairmen Did Much Better Than Makinde’s Executive Chairmen. Here’s Why!

Very early into his administration, the government of Seyi Makinde promised local government polls and eventually installed local government chairmen in all the 33 local government councils of Oyo State as well as administrators for the 35 local council development areas.

Ordinarily, this should be a cause for rejoicing. It should be a matter to heave a sigh of relief on, if it was coming from a sincere and forthright person, but again typical of Seyi Makinde, it was a sleight of hand, a magician’s trick, a technic of keeping something in the left palm while making the audience think it is in the right palm! In short, it was an aggravated deception of Oyo State people in promising them functional local councils while denying them of it because local government administration in Oyo State had never been as shorn of funds and clout as it presently is under the Seyi Makinde administration.

Under the present government, local government chairmen are rendered ineffective and turned to mere ceremonial heads because they have not been given the funds and the autonomy to identify and execute projects that will touch the lives of the people at the grass roots. The Seyi Makinde-led government has refused to give the councils what legitimately belong to them so that the installed council chairmen can perform. Even local government employees are rendered redundant as they alleged that they have not been receiving the necessary statutory imprest needed to operate and function, as all projects are being executed at the state government level. Joint Action Committee meetings that is supposed to hold as regularly as every month only holds on very rare occasions, in the three years plus of the Seyi Makinde administration. Supervisory councillors are only so in name, they are crying and bemoaning their plight as evidenced by the various voice notes flying around lately. Although they have the title: supervisory councillors, they have no projects to supervise! In many cases, they have not even been provided with adequate offices and furniture to conduct their legislative duties in. They sit around on stones under trees in their various councils and some of them have been bold enough to carry placards in protest of the situation. To add salt to injury, they are underpaid! One can go on and on about the depths of inefficiency that local government administration in Oyo State had been dragged down to by the Seyi Makinde administration. It is not possible in the space of a brief piece such as this, to fully expatiate on how bad the situation of the local government councils had become under the administration of Seyi Makinde. He has laid a stranglehold on the local councils and denied the good people of Oyo State the grass root development they should ordinarily experience from a democratic administration.

If against the background briefly painted above, one remembers Seyi Makinde’s promise to hold local government elections and install local council chairmen, the understanding dawns that the governor is a master of deception and betrayal. A master at promising the people one thing and going ahead to do the opposite. His handling of the local government council is a betrayal of the chairmen and councilors he installed, as much as it is a betrayal of the political class in Oyo State who gave him their platform to appeal to the public for votes. It is a betrayal of democracy and of democractic tenents. More importantly, it is a betrayal of the good people of Oyo State who discounted his political naivety and gave him the chance to show what he can do.

However, as the saying goes: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Another election time is here, let us watch and see those who will get fooled again. In the meantime, I challenge you to identify any development that has taken place in your community executed by your local government chairman, since the three years plus of Makinde’s administration.

A recent report dated October 20, 2022 alleged that accruals from the Federation Account to the 33 Local Governments in Oyo State amounted to N12.7 billion in three months but only N330 million was said to have been released by the state government to the local governments.

Makinde kept the lion share of the funds for reasons and purposes best known to him (maybe for miscellaneous items like the N100 million he allegedly gave to Iyorcha Ayu), while releasing a paltry N330 million for the 33 Local Governments (LGs) and the 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to share. And you wonder why your local council cannot grade and re-asphalt the road that entered your street! You wonder why your pregnant wife must get to UCH to get safe antenatal health services despite having a newly renovated primary health care center, three houses from yours. You wonder why Caretaker Chairmen under Ajimobi graded roads and laid asphalt but Executive Chairmen under Makinde cannot!

Wonder no more! Teslim Folarin has the explanation. In his interview with Adedayo Owolabi of BBC Yoruba News, TKF explained that Seyi Makinde is disconnected from the grassroots. He has no love nor empathy for the grassroots. Folarin said, “The present governor of Oyo State drove in with Learner’s Plates! He has no political experience. The beginning of politics is to recognize people and relate with the grassroots to understand their needs. The present governor lacks that and it shows. He has no relationships with the grassroots. Every other Governor of Oyo State had previous political experience. Great Lam was a former Rep. Ladoja a former Senator. Alao-Akala a former Local Government Chairman and Ajimobi a former Senator”.

The Oyo State grassroots is suffering today because the incumbent governor neither recognizes nor value them. Folarin on the other hand, with the background of a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, civil service experience and a twenty-year experience on the political scene of Oyo State is a product of the grassroots. The first third term senator and the only Senate Leader Oyo State has produced, is definitely not a beginner in politics. He is too connected and appreciative of the grassroots to ride rough shod over them like Makinde has been doing. He will not conspire to collect N30 million from each local council allegedly to construct on their behalf roads that they are supposed to construct themselves. He will give everyone their due. He will release funds for the local councils to operate.

Hon Olubunmi Sodipo
Deputy Director,
Directorate of Strategic Communications,
Tinubu/ Folarin Campaign Council.
November 23, 2022