N11.9bn FG Refund: Oyebamiji and the question of accountability

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By Sarafa Ibrahim

Public accountability is a key ingredient for good governance in any society. It is like the oxygen that powers good governance as it stands as a safeguard against abuses of public resources by people entrusted with responsibilities. In fact, Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian born Ukraine based clergyman warned that “Where there is no accountability, there will also be no responsibility.”

This brings me to a raging question that has agitated the minds of Osun people for sometime now. It is no other but the question on what happened to the N11.9 billion received by the Gboyega Oyetola administration for federal government road projects embarked upon by his predecessor, Rauf Aregbesola.

Sometime in September 2021, the Commissioner for Finance under Oyetola, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, had acknowledged receipt of the humongous fund from the central government as refund. According to him, the Oyetola administration received N11.9 billion from the federal government for road projects the state is constructing on its behalf and claimed that the money was ploughed back into four road projects inherited from the Aregbesola government.

For the purpose of emphasis, Oyebamiji noted that “Similarly, the total refund by the FG to the state as at today, in three tranches, stood at N11.9bn based on the project delivered by both contractors. It is imperative to state that the FG refund of the N11.9bn has been judiciously utilized and ploughed back into four (4) inherited road projects embarked upon by the previous administration contrary to the unsubstantiated claims by Mr. Ayedun that the refund is being used to pay full salaries to civil servants in the state.”

Now, the question which Oyebamiji cunningly dodged and which has remain unanswered till date, is what are the four road projects that gulped that whopping N11.9bn? Given the size of the amount, it shouldn’t be that hard to see what it was used for. And assuming they are too small to see, Oyebamiji has a duty to point them out for the public to see.

This is highly necessary, especially now that he is aspiring to lead the state on the platform of the APC and invariably, have access to public purse, if he ever succeed. Public fund belongs to the people and Oyebamiji owes them a duty to provide an unambiguous answer on how resources under his watch was utilised.

The Osogbo-Ikirun-Ila Odo-Kwara boundary was literally abandoned and nothing significant happened with the Osogbo circular road (Ona Baba Ona) while the Osogbo-Gbongan road recorded no real progress in its construction. The roads highlighted are what the Aregbesola administration embarked upon and for which the federal government made refund.

It is not in doubt that the Adeleke administration inherited a litany of abandoned road projects across the state, some of which he has completed and now serving the public despite not receiving any refund from the federal government on them. If Oyetola, which Oyebamiji served as his Commissioner for Finance, got N11.9bn and actually utilized it on road projects, then it should be visible for all to see and acknowledge.

Within his first year in office, Governor Adeleke was able to complete the Osogbo-Ikirun dual carriage road which was one of the FG road embarked upon by the Aregbesola administration. And in 2024, Governor Adeleke completed and commissioned the the Osogbo City Circular road (Ona Baba Ona) started by Aregbesola– another project for which the refund was made to the Oyetola administration.

So, it does not make sense that Oyetola could not complete any of the inherited road from the previous administration despite having N11.9bn refund, which his successor, Governor Adeleke did not have.

The N7bn refund received by the Adeleke administration was not for road done for the FG, yet, he made it publicly known without any prompting that it would be utilized for infrastructural projects. The refund was transferred to a special project account that funded the first multi-billion infrastructure plan that was unveiled in November 2023, and most of the projects had been completed and delivered.

This is why it is begining to make sense that the Oyetola administration may not have used the N11.9bn refund for the purpose it claimed, hence, its struggle to point out the exact projects it was spent on. But Oyebamiji can prove doubters wrong by coming out with clear explanations on the supposed inherited road projects that benefited from the N11.9bn refund from FG with empirical analysis on the condition of the projects before intervention and after.

In a state that struggled with poor road infrastructures, making it difficult to attract investments, it is unimaginable the level of impact that N11.9bn can make in putting things in place especially at a time when the value of naira was not as bad as now. What is required of Oyebamiji, who actually supervised the state’s treasury under Oyetola, is to provide answers to the question of accountability that Osun people places right before him.

This accountability question is even more necessary going by the fact that the N11.9bn could have done so much in offsetting a significant part of the half-salary debt incurred by the APC administration. If the Oyetola administration, which Oyebamiji was an integral part of, failed to pay any half salary arrears from the refund despite seeing workers and pensioners suffering then, what is the exact purpose that the fund served?

It is important to emphasize for Oyebamiji the admonition of a Canadian author and poet, A.J Dakhokme that “The only way we succeed as a group is not simply following directions, but in keeping each other accountable for our actions.” For Osun people, it is right for them to know how their money was spent, and I think Oyebamiji should not waste time in providing the right answer. That is accountability!