The Senator Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO) has challenged Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Bimbo Adekanmbi, to address what it described as critical failures in local government administration, healthcare, and education, rather than accusing Alli of copying government policies.
SSACO said the allegations that Alli’s Oyo AHEAD manifesto borrowed from the Makinde administration were attempts to divert attention from questions surrounding the state of public services and grassroots development in Oyo State.
In a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, the organisation said the manifesto offered practical solutions to challenges in education, healthcare, agriculture, grassroots development and youth empowerment.
It also described Alli as an experienced public administrator whose previous positions as council chairman, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff and current senator had equipped him with the experience to govern the state.
“Alli is not a newcomer learning governance from press releases. He was a Council Chairman, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff and is now a serving Senator. That experience from the ward to the Senate is what positions him as the best for Oyo State. You cannot copy what you have lived,” the statement said.
On local government administration, SSACO claimed that the state’s 33 local government areas had received approximately N873 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) since 2019, yet their budgets were not published online.
The organisation said Alli’s proposed solution was to issue an executive order on his first day in office to guarantee local government autonomy, ensure payments to councils on a fixed date and enforce the monthly remittance of 10 per cent of state revenue due to local governments.
It argued that the measures would strengthen grassroots governance and enable councils to address the needs of their communities.
On healthcare, SSACO claimed that six local government areas had no general hospitals, while six general hospitals had no doctor as of October last year. It added that 10 other hospitals had only one doctor each.
The organisation further alleged that primary healthcare centres across the state had an average of three workers each, compared with a national standard of 24.
It said Alli’s proposed Oyo Care initiative would guarantee free healthcare for infants, pregnant women and residents aged 70 and above.
According to SSACO, the manifesto also provides for continuous recruitment of healthcare workers, improved hospital facilities, adequate medical supplies, solar power for rural maternity centres and public performance dashboards in every ward.
In the education sector, the organisation cited figures from the state’s school census, claiming that public primary school classrooms accommodated an average of 100 pupils.
It also put the number of out-of-school children aged three to 17 in Oyo State at approximately 674,000, which it described as the highest in the South-West.
The campaign organisation further claimed that seven out of 10 children aged between seven and 14 could not perform basic mathematical calculations.
To address the challenges, SSACO said Oyo AHEAD proposed reducing classroom populations to 30 pupils, renovating schools across the 33 local government areas, introducing scholarships for gifted children from poor backgrounds and enacting an Apprenticeship Law.
It also proposed restoring School Governing Boards to parents and host communities to strengthen participation in school administration.
Other initiatives contained in the manifesto, according to SSACO, include an agricultural revolution, a N10 billion Youth Fund, housing programmes for low- and middle-income earners and a 20-year warranty on every newly constructed road.
The organisation also challenged the Makinde administration to provide documentary evidence for claims that Oyo State had been ranked Nigeria’s most liveable state, including the report, its publisher and the methodology used.
It dismissed the argument that Alli’s proposal for one primary healthcare centre in every ward amounted to copying the Makinde administration, insisting that the existence of such facilities without adequate personnel and equipment did not amount to effective healthcare delivery.
“They claim Oyo is the most liveable state but cannot produce the report, the publisher, or the methodology. They claim Alli copied one-PHC-per-ward, yet our PHCs have three workers instead of 24. That is not implementation. That is abandonment,” the statement added.
SSACO described Adekanmbi’s candidacy as a continuation of what it called the failures and excessive centralisation of the current administration, insisting that Oyo AHEAD offered a different approach to governance.
The organisation said it would continue to highlight issues it considered critical to the welfare and development of Oyo State residents.
