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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
A coalition of civil societies, The Osun Masterminds (TOM), has issued the Osun State House of Assembly seven days to explain how it spent N886,459,882.49 within three months.
Speaking at the monthly State of the State address in Osogbo, yesterday, TOM Executive Director, Wasiu Oyedokun-Alli, expressed displeasure over the failure of the legislators to provide answers to the Freedom of Information request to know details of expenditure that amounted to N886,459,882.49 for July, August, and September.
The group also told the legislators to give details of about N40 million allegedly expended on Toyota Fortuner SUVs for House of Assembly members, saying the Assembly populated by mostly youths should lead by example and provide change.
“As Centre for Sustained Dialogue (CSD) has earlier requested, we also now make an open request to the Osun State House of Assembly, under Adewale Egbedun, to disclose within seven days, details of its 886,459,882.49 expenditure for July, August and September 2023. The people of Osun State deserve to know what a 26-member House of Assembly spent almost such a humongous figure on in just three months,” the group said.
On the N2 billion palliative received by Osun from the Federal Government, the group advised Governor Ademola Adeleke to start distribution of the palliative towards social investment that will alleviate the current hardship that indigent people are facing in the state.
For the umpteenth time, the group told Governor Adeleke to make public the details of the purported 332 boreholes project through a proper statement, within seven days, with an explanation of how the project was executed and how the government has monitored the implementation to ensure the people get value for money spent.
The group also said some of the projects embarked upon by Adeleke’s government, including the N100 billion infrastructure plan, had no provision in the 2023 budget despite that work has commenced on some of the projects without due process.
“Aside from the possibility that the spending on the aforementioned projects is extra-budgetary, we are also wondering how much the Osun State government respected due process in the award of the contracts. Were the projects, and others, properly awarded under the guiding laws of procurement in our state?
“It is important to state that the execution of a government project is as important as the transparency with which it is executed. We, therefore, will await government clarifications in this regard,” the group said.
