Our infrastructural funding plan sustainable – Osun govt

Osun State government says its infrastructure plan has a sustainable funding model which targets the facilitation of economic growth and development of the state.

Oluomo Kolapo Alimi, the commissioner for information and public enlightenment, made the clarification in response to the advocacy of non-governmental groups such as the Osun Masterminds and the Coalition for Good Governance (C4GG) on planned flyover bridges, dualisation of roads and pension matters in the state.

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The commissioner, who praised the civil society groups in the state, said the government was open to advice, especially when such are dispassionate and devoid of political partisanship, assuring that “the ship of state is progressing to deliver on good governance.”

“On the state of security, Governor Ademola Adeleke has ensured robust response by regular hosting of the state security council meetings, by forging inter-agencies collaborations, and by the ongoing reform of the Amotekun corps.

“Not minding that police and other outfits are federal bodies, the governor has created a security architecture that integrates formal and informal security bodies for the urgent task of securing Osun State.

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“On the state of infrastructure, this administration inherited a huge infrastructure deficit which it is working hard to bridge and which has led to the construction of over 50 kilometres of roads and rebuilding of several bridges.

“Federal roads are, however, particularly challenging because of the scale of the job and because the Federal Government of President Bola Tinubu is also just settling down.

“Governor Adeleke is, however, committed to addressing the road crisis, hence the revival of the state road maintenance agency which has become more active in the last few months.

“On the issue of flyover in Osogbo, we assure the public that the project design is such that it will not create an unbearable burden on the state even as the state needs to upgrade her infrastructure to achieve economic growth.

“At the Ipade Imole coming up on October 5, Governor Adeleke will unveil full details of dualisation of roads and flyover bridges which towns other than Osogbo will also benefit from, all under a financially and environmentally sustainable model.

“On subsidy palliatives, we clarify that the state government is not shrouding the distribution process in secrecy as a public committee comprising various sectors of the society successfully handled the exercise.

“We also want the public to note that Osun is already under an emergency with almost N100 billion debt while still paying half salary and pension debt alongside pressing needs from all sectors such as infrastructure, education, and health, among others.

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“Aside from the palliatives, the Government is also set to unveil details on the disbursement of the N2 billion which was part of the N5 billion promised by the Federal Government.

“On pension matters, we are glad to report that a meeting between the pension stakeholders and the government has produced positive results with a common template in place to ensure that all segments of the pensioners’ population are duly covered

“The government has the greatest respect for the pensioners as our senior citizens”, the statement noted.

According to the commissioner, the only plea that all stakeholders have accepted is the need to refrain from playing into the hands of some politicians whose goal is to derail the ongoing strong push to resolve the N56 billion naira inherited pension debt.

The Osun Masterminds had asked the governor to desist from his administration’s plan of constructing flyovers in Osogbo, the capital of the state, saying such a move would be tantamount to a waste of resources and space.

Rather, the group advised the state government to dualise the affected roads in order to ease traffic congestions.