Makinde orders probe of councils, LCDAs’ accounts

• Inaugurates visitation panels to two state-owned polytechnics
• Charges women to live up to expectation as he swears in first female SSG

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has set up a seven-man committee to investigate and probe the accounts and finances of the 33 local governments (LGs) and 35 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.

The panel, to be chaired by Justice S. L. Popoola (rtd), has six weeks to submit its report on financial accountability of the councils from January 2018 to May 2019.

Also inaugurated alongside the committee at the Executive Chambers of the Governor’s office were two separate visitation panels to Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa and The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki.

Makinde said that the probe panel was not set up in anyway to go after the past administration, but setting the stage for his government to take off and deliver dividends of democracy to the entire citizenry.

He, therefore, admonished members of the committee to carry out the task efficiently and effectively.

In another development, the governor has challenged women across the country to live up to expectations as men are lurking by the corners.

He gave the charge yesterday during the swearing-in of the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mrs. Olubamiwo Adeosun, at the Governor’s Office in Ibadan.

Makinde stated that he made a lot of introspections in making a decision to pick the new SSG out of the very eminently qualified personalities he had before him.

“In taking the decision to pick her out of the very eminently qualified personalities I had before me, I did a lot of introspections. There is this usual divide between politicians and technocrats.”

“Some people would argue that the best person for the job is a politician, who understands the terrain as they put it. Others would say the engine room of government must be manned by a technocrat, who knows his or her onions.”

He, however, said that the need to balance his cabinet along gender and religious considerations informed his decision of choosing a woman to hold the position.