Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Thursday, expressed reservations that, seeking a second term in office in 2023, will not stop him from blocking all necessary loopholes in the public finance in his first term, with a bid to ensure transparency and accountability, which he swore to, on assumption of office.
Makinde, dropped the hint, at a book presentation authored by the immediate-past Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, UCH, Prof. Temitope Alonge, held at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan.
The governor added that, there are people within the system that are used to free money and they are still there, nothing that all they could say to him was that he (Makinde) is messing with their honey pots and blocked loopholes to making money from.
Makinde said: “They do threaten me on 2023 ambition, saying I will come back again, but I may or may not; that is the news for them. I will ensure that those loopholes remain blocked.”
“I listened carefully when Professor Alonge said apart from civil servants, the next people we should get rid-off in this country are the politicians. Well, what I can say about that is, the politicians are a product of our environment. So, if we need honest politicians and those that will focus on the people, then we have to clean up our environment because society will throw them up.”
“We do have people who, according to Professor Alonge, are out flyers. We have many out flyers out there but they are very scared to come out. I want to use this opportunity to encourage us If we have maybe 2 per cent of the population of out flyers, we need to encourage them to come out. If they occupy 70 or 80 per cent of political positions, then, we will see a major difference.”
“Is it all rosy? No. There are people within the system that are used to free money and they are still there. And all they can say to me is that I am messing with their have honey pots and blocked loopholes to making money from,” Makinde said.