By Adebayo Adedeji & Sesan Opadoyin
The Emperor in the Bola Ige House is now deaf and dumb to the plight of the people.
This is the current reality in our land, the Land of Virtue. While state governors in the country are working passionately to address economic hardship confronting their citizens, Governor Ademola Adeleke is more concerned about his personal comfort. From January 2023 to June 2024, against common sense, no less than N27 billion was spent on the Office of the Governor.
At a time, sensible and compassionate state governors are exploring alternatives to mitigate high food prices and expensive transportation cost, Adeleke continues to engage in profligacy, making a life out of the misfortune of the struggling and economically emasculated citizens.
The governor sees sense in allocating N3 billion to purchase 20 units of 2023 Landcruiser Jeep ( each valued at N150million) for his office, rather than considering buying Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses for the use of the people who can no longer breathe on account of high cost of transportation. For instance, a luxury 38-Seater CNG City Bus, costing N21 million each, offers significant potential for cost savings in Osun State’s transport sector than the lavish and _arungun_ spending that is being encouraged in the state hitherto noted for prudence.
With N13.5 billion, half of what was squandered for maintaining the governor in the first 20 months of his administration, 600 units of CNG buses, could have been purchased, thus bringing substantial economic benefits and relief to the state. Each local government area in the state will get 20 of such buses if distributed on equal basis.
Fueling a 20-38 seater petrol bus costs around N55,000, while a CNG bus of the same capacity costs between N12,000 and N15,000. This reduction in fuel expenses, three to four times lower, could greatly ease transport cost.
With a CNG-enabled car, a trip from Osogbo to Ilorin could cost as low as N5,000 as against N15,000 which is the experience when the car is powered by Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.
Dr Jane Okoye, an economic expert, while featuring on a national television programme, highlighted that, “investing in CNG buses would significantly lower transportation costs and help combat inflation, offering both immediate and long-term economic relief to the people of Osun State.”
By investing in CNG buses, inter-state travel costs ( from Osogbo to Ibadan, for example) could potentially be reduced to N800-N1000, thereby providing much-needed relief to the good people of Osun.
Other state governors are thinking out of the box in ensuring succour comes to their subjects. Many are facilitating mobile CNG stations to soften the transportation headache in their domains. Benue’s Governor Hyacinth Alia has provided 100 buses for his people. Just as his counterparts in Borno and Nasarawa states have done. In Ondo, the state government is providing free shuttle for the senior citizens and students. While in Lagos, more BRT buses have been supplied just as the state’s Blue Line rail is revolutionizing transportation, conveying over two million passengers in just one year of operation.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu has not only started paying N70,000 salary to public workers, he has created special markets in Lagos where food items are sold at discounted prices.
In the neighbouring state of Oyo, the state government has extended payment of N25,000 wage award to over one hundred thousand (100,000) workers on its payroll to ameliorate their economic challenges pending the period the N70,000 National Minimum Wage is implemented.
But not only has the state government of Osun discontinued the miserable payment of N15,000 it reluctantly paid for few months to its less than 30,000 workers, it is allegedly contemplating downsizing the workforce so as to free-up resources for implementation of the emerging new minimum wage in the state, a development rumoured to be induced by the recommendation originating from the controversial staff audit recently conducted by the state government.
The current approach of the state government, where people are left to die of hunger while over N1billion, for instance, is provisioned to renovate the governor’s lodge and quarters, is troubling just as it is wicked.
Humanity first. There is no sense in the government spending about N1billion to purchase a Satellite, N2.1million to buy one laptop and N34.6m to procure ordinary Tokunbo Camry (2009 model) car whose actual/market value is in the region of N10 million…, in the season of anomie when food is beyond the reach of the proletarians, and transportation system is moribund and gasping for breath.
