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From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of presenting a budget proposal that by allocating funds to projects he claims to have already completed and commissioned. Its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Victor Ofure Osehobo, said the governor forgot to mention the current status of the N25 billion five-year bond:
“On a closer look, the 2022 Obaseki budget proposal, is completely unrealistic and duplicitously embellished with impractical predications, a development that confirms fears by many Edo people that this administration is obviously still trying unsuccessfully to lay a foundation for governance as Obaseki himself declared, five years on!
“The proposal again illustrates that Obaseki has perfected the art of wasting Edo state’s funds on frivolities. How does he explain the allocation of N21billion for government buildings and another N15billion to enhance the work environment?
“The estimate is padded. This can be deduced from such spurious allocations like providing social and youth development, N5billion; technology enhancement, N7.6billion; effective fiscal and business-friendly regulatory policies, N4.5billion. The budget proposal included a N1.2 billion provision for water, which is non-existent and which the government has never attempted to provide anywhere.
“This is as ridiculous as the provision of N1.5billion for citizen re-orientation and social protection, and N9.2billion for public safety and security, which are suspicious and questionable and call for answers.
“The governor, clearly economical with the truth claims that, ‘children in primary schools in Edo State today now learn three times more than they used to learn with the old pedagogue. We have the lowest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria on account of our reforms.’
“The governor has deceived Edo people for too long. They know that he has not employed teachers and that public school children are sentenced to sitting on bare floor in grouped classes with a school head, teaching all subjects, across schools in several communities.”
