The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has flayed the profligacy of Ogun State government in its ongoing urban infrastructural renewal projects in the state.
Reacting to the allegation that the state government constructed a pedestrian bridge with air-conditioner at Oke-Sokori Area of Abeokuta with N260m, Executive Chairman of CACOL, Debo Adeniran described the government action as a misplaced priority that shows the depth of shallowness in the thinking of those in charge of political leadership in the country.
“How can Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led government claim it constructed a pedestrian bridge with air-conditioner? Does it mean the government does not have any other pressing issue to attend to?” Adeniran queried in a release issued by the body’s media officer, Abimbola Adegoke.
“It is not only a misplaced priority but a pointer to frivolity in the act of governance in our country. It is absurd that a pedestrian bridge could be built with N260m in a country where many citizens are living in abject poverty.”
He asked what use an air-conditioned pedestrian bridge is to users, saying the Nigerian ruling class is simply proving day after day that it is not only clueless about what our problems are as a country but also incompetent as per how to solve them.
“With the rate poverty ravages the Nigerian masses, it is unthinkable that an air-conditioned pedestrian bridge would be the priority of a state government,” he said.
“Just recently, this same Amosun-led administration was involved in a road contract fraud where a seven kilometer road contract was awarded at N18bn with nothing to show for it despite the government claiming it had paid N2bn advance fee.
“It is high time our leaders picked a cue from their contemporaries in saner climes; Nigeria cannot progress if our leaders continue to administer public funds the way they like; our leaders should wake up and see how public funds are spent in developed world to benefit their citizens.”
Adeniran further urged public office holders to “deal decisively with this culture of waste and avarice if true dividend of democracy would be delivered to the Nigerian masses.”
