Ondo state budget and the reality of governance – By Rotimi Williams Ogunleye

Most Popular | February 17, 2012 11:23 pm

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Ondo state budget and the reality of governance – Being a reaction to Niyi Akinnaso’s article

By Rotimi Williams Ogunleye

Tuesday, February 1, 2012, I was at the hallow chamber of the Ondo State House of 
Assembly when the governor of Ondo state, Dr Rahaman Mimiko presented his 2012 budget speech to the state legislators. The thick crowd of Labour Party members and enticed invited guests bathed the chamber with imaginary cloud as if it was about to rain. Except for a few ones that have high-tech cameras, it was practically
difficult for anybody with the usual digital camera to take a very good picture of the event.

Despite the retinue of government functionaries that attended the yearly ritual ceremony of the budget presentation, I was not impressed because I know the session will not produce an avenue for budget tutorials where questions will be taken by the presenter and answers supplied to the satisfaction or otherwise of the observers and the people of Ondo state. That to me should be budgeted for when allocating time for
the session. Certainly, if done, it will do the governor and the citizens enough good than the usual read and clap system. Rather, after the speech of the governor, the legislators observed a political plenary right in the presence of Dr Mimiko debating on how to recall one of the House of Representatives members elected on the platform of the Labour Party who defected to A C N recently.

Budget as an important tool of planning truly deserves an in-depth look and comprehensive analysis. It is an important aspect of any organization that earns money and applies same for value creation and service delivery. For government, it is crucial to its activities because it ought to be a measurement tool for the elected and appointed persons. Though uncommon, budget provides a good measuring scale for the performance of every administration whereby funds are matched with projects executed. So it will be a good effort in the right direction to mirror the budget proposals of the Ondo state government and the speech so presented by the governor from the existing projects in the state and the corresponding resources expended on them.

I have read a lot of commentaries in the local and national dailies on the budget speech even when the details of the budget are yet to be presented. It is height of unprofessionalism to assume budget performance just because huge figures and relative statistics point to slight growth. For  example, you may have increase in budgetary figure on education that is occasioned by increase in the salary of the retinue of political office holders, entertainment, fueling and acquisition of lands. Of importance too is the adherence to budget discipline because one thing is to budget another thing is to make money available for the implementation. One Niyi Akinnaso of the Punch newspaper analysed the budget awarded it a theoretical pass mark and in his generous conclusion, he said the title is not appropriate. Instead of caring hearth budget Niyi said the appropriate name should have been “A budget of consolidation”. The name notwithstanding, Niyi needs to be told the other side of the budget and the reality of governance in Ondo state.

According to the governor, the budget proposal is premised on estimated accruable revenue of N150 billion naira with N64.5 billion and N85.5 billion for recurrent and capital expenditure respectively. Typical of the normal Nigeria budget speech, budget discipline, project priority and efficient utilization of fund are usually omitted. That is one of the reasons why professionals are now advocating management report and fiscal financial analysis vis-à-vis fund and challenges of organizations in the public sector.

The governor, though mentioned projects that were ongoing, he chose to ignore some projects that has drained the purse of the state (Dome project, cement factory etc) from the list and used general statement to cover the rot in the public-private initiative that he claimed was successful. The governor did not reveal to Niyi that despite the huge cash he met in the state treasury and the statutory allocations collected so far, he has dragged the state into the committee of debtors in the country. As our allocation increases our internal debt too increases in a proportionate trend. At the moment, the state owes over N20 billion and still intends to add to its debt profile a loan stock of N50 billion out of which the Security and Exchange Commission has approved N27 billion. Were it not for the case instituted by the A C N, the already queuing friends of the governor who hid under the guise of institutions would have dropped the money and automatically become shareholders in Ondo state.

For the purpose of lucidity, let us x-ray the budget proposal as presented by the governor. So far, he has twelve “mega” schools of different sizes in Ondo state. Less than half of the schools are at different levels of completion three years down the road. Each of the mega schools costs between N350 million and N600 million depending on the size. A visit to Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo and the two universities in the state will reveal to any development conscious mind that government needs not investment of this magnitude in primary school while its tertiary institutions are in comatose. Most first class citizens that we have around today are not product of mega schools but mega brains with mega determination, mega encouragement from the government and mega and purpose driven policy on education.

Though appear beautiful, how appropriate and suitable to primary level of education is the mega school considering over N10 billion expended on them? Any thought about maintenance? How envious could Rufus Giwa Polytechnic be? High-heeled shoes are good but how does it sound when the son of a limping man sends a pair to his father? The immediate response to the poor educational output at the primary level of education is beyond super-structures that are being celebrated. The hood certainly does not make the monk.

Dr Mimiko, while mentioning his achievements, added to his list the Olokola Free Trade zone, Arigidi Tomatoe Company and refinery as some of the ongoing benefits of his public- private initiative. But the governor knows that Olokola project is not his making and that all the money sank into the Arigidi Tomatoe Company has gone to the pockets of his brother, his in-laws and the director of the company. Except the governor is thinking of elsewhere, there is nothing like refinery in Ondo state. Its existence is only in his imagination. Yet, Niyi based his conclusion on these falsehood and window dress analysis that are contained in the budget speech.

The issue of Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre is another tissue of lies from the speech of Dr Rahaman. Hear Niyi, “A quick tour of the state today reveals ………. a state of the art diagnostic centre and other achievements. Niyi should again ask Dr Mimiko whether the state owns the facility. The ownership resides majorly in MECURE Health Services, a Lagos based Health Service Company and not Ondo state. That is why its services are not within the reach of the poor.

I invite Niyi to Ondo state to take a tour of the state in other to authenticate his newsroom theories or avail himself of the opportunities to really do what an accountant will call matching concept. Until he does that, his claim is at best a script supplied by a hatchet man for the purpose of needless mega propaganda.

Ogunleye Rotimi Williams, 47A Isolo Street, Akure.


  • Gbenga Oladapo

    d guy Mimiko has stolen ondo people dry. 

  • Morenikesadiq

    And please let someone tell Prof. Niyi Akinnaso that we appreciate his support during our fight with Agagu but now, he has to stand with the people of Ondo State. No arm chair analysis anymore. He has earned his pay.

    • peggie151

      Morenike,  please say it loud.  God bless Rotimi williams Ogunleye for exposing these enemy of the people.  God will surely judge them.  Can you imagine those mega schools one at 350million, this is unjust and unfair, no wonder Tinubu wants to come and grab his own. 

  • Morenikesadiq

    @ Seun Olaiya/Celestine. I think a careful analysis of what ogunleye wrote here needs to be done. No point abusing or cursing anyone. Niyi Akinnaso in his characteristic way refuse to go above ethnic sentiments and do an indepth review of Ondo state budget, but just gave the government of Dr. Rahman Mimiko a pass mark, ogunleye meanwhile said it should not be so. Don’t see the need for anger or any other emotion at that. I am a Labour Party member and I know and can see what Ogunleye is saying. Let’s start from Dr. Mimiko’s administration inception.
    1. For six months, nothing was done during which he claimed he was reviewing Agagu’s tenure. Well up till today, we are yet to get a detailed report of the ills done by Agagu except few propaganda stuffs that up till today holds no water. EFCC has cleared Agagu of all charges and all those actions endeared Agagu more to the people.
    2. Agagu government claimed it left N38B in the treasury excluding funds at the Ministry, Departments and Agencies which it approximated to about N20B, Dr. Mimiko claimed Agagu was owing over N100B. Even we as Labour Party Members found Dr. Mimiko’s claim spurious because we all moved from PDP to Labour party and understand the workings of Agagu. He never awarded a contract without having 100% fundingso how did his government now owe N100B? And mind you up till today, no one has ever come out to claim Agagu’s government is owing him money, so we find that claim spurious. Conclusion on that, Mimiko met about N58B (conservatively) when he came into government.
    3.Since he came into power, revenue that has accrued to the state is about N560B while the state has also borrowed about N50B (I’m being conservative in my estimates) so in total, we are looking at N668B.
    4,Now that we have approximate estimate of what has accrued to Dr. Rahman Mimiko’s government, we can then look at the projects he has executed vis-a-vis the income.
    5. We all know the dome is a white elephant project, no problem, let’s forget that and move to something else. We know there is a tendency for a new government to make mistake in selecting contractors, so that is pardonable. We now have the market stalls/shops, Oba Adesida Road, Arakale road, ondo road, owo road, mother and child hospital, Gani fawehinmi Diagnostic centre, cement company, few community roads here and there and mega schools. All this are laudable project but at what cost.
    6. Each of the busstops constructed in Akure were awarded at a cost of N50m. Why? N50m for a single busstop? Which materials were used for the construction? Gold or diamond? What is the cost of those poles, or the flex used as cover, or is it the concrete work that gulps up so much money, or the busstop name and sign? What about the about N250m paid as consultancy fees for the consultant on the project? What was he consulting on to deserve that amount of money? No wonder Engr. Gboye Adegbemiro, the Commissioner for works now buys cars for his girlfriends as if he is donating BIC biro. No wonder his girlfriend in Ibadan, Ada can now drive around in a sleek car. What about the fountain at First Bank junction? At what cost was that awarded? N220m. But the confusing thing is the same fountain according to the Bank of Industry was done by them.
    7. Okeluse cement factory, what happened to that? Still on the drawing board?
    8. Arigidi Tomato factory, well, I don’t have the facts on that, so let mebe quiet on that issue.
    9, When Dr. Mimiko directed that the Akure township stadium capacity should be increased from 10,000 capacity which was what Agagu awarded the contract on at a cost of N3.6B to a 40,000 capacity Stadium at a cost of N10B, we were all alarmed because we knew that was not Ondo’s people priority and was a deviation from our original plan when we formed Labour party, but in his characyeristic way, he remained adamant, now the project is stuck. The Commissioner for Youth, Yekini Olanipekun inhis clownish remark said the contract will be revoved if not completed by july. Is he just waking up? Can the contract be completed till July next year? Didn’t he see that the project has not even gotten to 40% completion and a lot of concrete work has to be done? Didn’t they all muzzle the contractor to collect funds from him and got him into the present state? Why is he now calling a dog a bad name inorder to hang it? Election is less than 5 months away, so now the blame will be on the contractor for doing a slow job and not the government for taking all the money as back kick or side kick. We know CCC record in the few years they got in to the country. They always deliver on time and right on schedule, why is this now different.
    10. Roads, how many kilometres is ondo road and owo road? Why is it taking forever to complete the road? Akure to Oba Ile road as well, why is it taking forever? We understand his crony that was awarded the road said they took too much money from and he therefore cannot perform. No wonder ilaje people pursued the contractor that was sent to dualise the Igbokoda road saying “Mimiko should complete his town road first before coming to make a mess of their road”. Hmmmm.
    We all know the road from Igbokoda to Ugbo Nla which Agagu’s government constructed, that is on an all swampy terrain with accompanying bridges, why is it now so difficult for Mimiko’s government to dualise an existing road on dry ground. Hmmmm
    11. What about Mimiko’s choice of cabinet members? Why does he prefer to have incompetent people heading key ministries and agencies? What informed skin bleaching Debo Ajimuda’s choice as Chairman Osopadec? Debo’s highest qualification is higher school certificate. His most experience in private life is managing Crown barber shop and pepper soup joint with an annual turn over of less than N2m while in public life, he was a chairman of a local government. So what informed the decision of having him manage a budget of over N60B? Of course he is bound to misbehave. We reliably gathered he own well over 28 cars, of course that is expected, for someone who is not equipped cerebrally to manage such resource, one will expect that. My surprise is just Dr. Mimiko’s choice of Debo. As at today, he has bought well over 15 cars for his lady friends in okitipupa and Akure, but we are not surprised. We all critised Agagu for appointing Pastor Omojuwa as chairman Osopadec in Dr. Mimiko’s house, but what Dr. Did shocked everyone of us to the marrow. At least Omojuwa saw to the construction of good roads and bridges in the region, Igbotu – Igbekebo and host of other projects. Infact, I have to apologise to Agagu when next I see him for playing a role in his removal. His only fault was making his junior brother chief of staff, but when compared with Dr. Mimiko, the whole of his family is the cabinet. His brother in law who has only worked for about 3 years at FCMB has a sprawling mansion beside the hill at Alagbaka, the mansion has all the accompaniement of an American style house with outside Bar and Jacuzzi, Snoop Dogg style, he drives various exotics cars including a state of the art BMW convertible, sells contract papers to lesser souls and has just completed a state of the art eatery, Captain cook. His sibling has a newly completed exotic supermarket and automated drycleaning centre. Lol………..the convoy of the Prof. Femi Mimiko is longer than that of the governor himself while all the other siblings are in charhe of contracts at SITDA etc. I dey laugh…..lots of things to still talk about but let’s meditate on this for now. Dr. Mimiko is now asking for second term, Hmmmm……… No problem. We will all stay in this Labour party. Bi iku ile o paa ni, ti Ode o le paa ni je…….keyword “Iku Ile”

    NB: Have to give Governor Mimiko credit thou for appointing Dr. Pius Osunyikanmi then. At least, that was one person that has brain among the whole lot and really cared about his people but in Mimiko’s maradonic way, he moved him to Abuja to douse his flame. Hmmmmm
    Time will tell.

    • frfrancis

      GOD BLESS You ma for this well articulated facts! I also salute you for your courage.

  • Seun Olaiya

    @Celestine and @cd0efeea8ca5cd8046830f200c69436e:disqus , thanks to u guyz. I don’t understand these people at all… How will you see good and call it bad? Mimik has never calimed for instance that the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostics centre was totally owned by the state. Mecure is well on show there and the price, relative to what you will get elsewhere for such services, is low… These people who call themselves opposition should be more intelligent in their arguments, if not, the make us see more and more, what a joke ACN is…

  • Celestine

    Bad people will never see anything good in what this man is doing at present, because He refused to join ACN so that they can plunge down the resources of the state with their God-Father in Lagos. I am assuring you Ondo state will be the least state in Nigeria to be cowed again. I was in Nigeria, Ondo state in particular last month (April 2012) I saw what is there now and see what is on going. One can easily know that the man Mimiko has the development of the state in mind. Lies will continually fall on the evil people of the state.

    • peggie151

      Celestine, your utterance shows your level of intelligence.  Pls read the article all over again and go and verify by yourself.  I am sick.

  • KAYODEAYODEJI

    JESUS CHRIST! ARE YOU BLIND WITH THE LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE STATE?MAY THE LORD CONTINUE TO CURSE ALL YOU WHO CONDEMN ABRAHAM  AND THOSE WHO RISE AGAINST MOSES.MIMIKO IS A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART………..”TOUCH NOT MY ANNOITED AND DO MY PROPHET NO HARM”!

    • Mrs Agnes Adekoye

      If Mimiko has not stolen Ondo State people’s money, may your prayer be answered. But if he has stolen Money and enrich his family at the expense of the people, may you be cursed by the God of Moses and Abraham. Amen in Jesus name.

    • peggie151

      Kayode, you will share in Mimiko’s ordeal when his down fall shall come.  We the Ondo state indigine have God who does not sleep. You watch