Follow Us on Google
From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has threatened to resign if the allegation of inflating the N998million notebook contract for secondary school students levelled against his administration is found to be true.
He made the disclosure yesterday when he spoke at the grand finale of the one-year anniversary of a private radio station, Agidigbo 88.7FM, Ibadan, held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.
Makinde’s reaction followed a review of the Oyo State Open Contracting portal, carried out by a study group known as Dataphyte, which alleged that the notebooks came with a unit price of N2,100.
According to the review, the secondary school notebook contracts awarded up to N998 million between August 2019 and December 2020, had allegedly been a subject of contract inflation, fraudulent contract bidding and contract ambiguity. It was said that the founder of Agidigbo FM, Alhaji Oriyomi Hamzat, was awarded the contract.
The governor stated that the allegations of contract inflation, fraudulent contract bidding and contract ambiguity, were untrue. He explained that if thorough investigation was conducted and the allegations were found to be true, he would not hesitate to resign his position as governor of the pacesetter state.
According to him, the people behind the news said they carried out a market survey, which revealed that the unit price of the notebook was between N250 and N300. He said: “If the printing price of each notebook is above N300, I will resign.”
