Oyo Assembly approves government’s request to access N18.7b FG loan

• House denies impeachment plot against deputy gov
• Describes reports as fallacious condemnable
• UNICEF, Oyo finalise moves on social protection plan

The Oyo State House of Assembly has given its nod to Governor Seyi Makinde to access the N18.7 billion Federal Government bridge facility meant to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

The request was contained in a letter forwarded to the state legislature by the governor and read during plenary on Monday by the Speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin.

President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the bridge facility for all the 36 states of the federation and it will be accessed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The facility was meant to give support to states, following the resumption of monthly deductions for the repayment of their various loan facilities.

The lawmakers in their comments on the request agreed that such loan facility from the Federal Government was necessary and timely as many states recorded huge loss during the pandemic.

They, however, urged the state government to expend the loan on developmental projects selected across all the senatorial districts in the state.

Ogundoyin gave the assurance that the House, through its Committee on Public Account and Appropriation, would perform its oversight function by monitoring the accessing and spending of the loan.

MEANWHILE, the House has refuted rumours of an impeachment plot against the Deputy Governor of the state, Rauf Olaniyan. It described the rumours as baseless, misleading and absolutely condemnable.

Chairman of the Committee on Information, Communication and Technology, Kazeem Olayanju, said the story, which first appeared in an online news publication on Monday, October 18, 2021, was amusing to all the 33 lawmakers in the Assembly. He emphasised that there was never a time such was discussed or the idea muted by the legislators in the chamber or outside.

The report had alleged that the cold war between the governor and his deputy had assumed a dangerous dimension and that the deputy governor would be impeached anytime soon by the peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-dominated House of Assembly.

IN another development, the state government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Akure Field Office, have finalised plans on the implementation of Oyo State social protection and implementation plan.

The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Musibau Babatunde, disclosed this during a four-day stakeholders’ meeting in Oyo Town.

He said the state had finalised the production of a Medium-Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) and part of the aims of the social protection programme was to address the issues of lack of access to education and healthcare for children.

Babatunde also said that the partnership with UNICEF would provide a unique opportunity for the most vulnerable people in the state to access development and intervention programmes.