The Ondo State Government and the State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have traded words over the alleged N5 billion allocation in the 2024 budget for the renovation of a daycare center.
An online newspaper, Saharareporters, published a report on Tuesday claiming that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s administration earmarked N5 billion in the budget for daycare center renovations.
In response, the state government, who spoke through its Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Pastor Emmanuel Igbasan, clarified that there was an error in the budget allocation.
He explained that they intended the N5 billion to reflect the expected drawdown from the Nigerian for Women Project (World Bank Supported), which they had included under Capital Receipts in the budget document.
Igbasan, who commended the online newspaper for bringing the error to their notice, stated that the actual budgeted amount for the daycare renovation was N18 million.
On the other hand, the PDP, through a statement released on Wednesday by its State Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Ikantu Peretei, accused the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget of trying to mislead the public.
PDP said: “It was like a thunderbolt when Saharareporters broke the news that, the government of Hon.Lucky Aiyedatiwa intends to spend a whooping sum of N5 billion to renovate Day-Care Centres in the State as captured in the 2024 appropriation law.
“The amount was to buy babycot walkers, toys and beddings. The government planned to source another N18 billion loan from the French Development Agency to provide water in Akure and its surrounding areas.
“The Ondo State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget issued a statement in an attempt to deceive the public, claiming that the N5 billion actually represented the expected drawdown from the Nigerian For Women Project (World Bank supported). They stated that this was a regrettable printer’s interpolation error that occurred during the document preparation for publication and that corrective action is underway.”
A regrettable aspect is that, even though the document underwent several layers of screening and vetting before being forwarded to the Ondo State House of Assembly, it still faced scrutiny. At the Assembly, the House Committee on Appropriation then invites government officials, allowing them to take turns defending the same budget. Is it the case that, nobody spotted these regrettable errors?”
The opposition party said it was the plan of the Aiyedatiwa government to swindle the people of the state through the Daycare renovation project.
According to PDP, the plan was thwarted by the eagle-eyed media.
“Therefore, a mere apology is not enough. Authorities must hold all those connected with this fraud accountable. The Governor must urgently clear himself to dispel allegations that he is desperate to use funds from the Ondo State Treasury to finance his election campaign on November 16.
“Our party will not fold its hand and watch the APC and Aiyedatiwa fleece our meagre resources just for the political aspiration of one man, no matter how highly placed,” PDP said.
