By Bukayo Agboluaje
A former Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Dr. Akin Onigbinde {SAN}, has called on Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to extend the gesture to complete Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road with a N150 billion loan to other zones in the state as well.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde, last week, sent a bill to the Oyo State House of Assembly, seeking a N150 billion loan from Afrexim and Access banks to complete the road project.
Onigbinde said the call became imperative since other zones too would have to pay when the time for repayment of the loan comes.
The former speaker, who made the call in a statement he issued in Ibadan, lauded the governor for the step.
According to him, the Senator Rashidi Ladoja Ring road project is “one of the best thought-out pieces of infrastructure propositions that promise to be a game changer, not only for lbadan, (the hub of development and socio-economic, cultural and educational activities in various parts of the State), but for ingress and egress into various parts of the South West of Nigeria.
It has been on the minds of previous governments in the State, but it is the present government that has taken it up with considerable engineering verve, and driven the project into significant accomplishments, completion virtually in view”.
He said that the project would not only ease road users from Lagos, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo and Edo States who may not want to enter Ibadan City to proceed to their destinations, it will also ease the traffic jam that always characterize the Iwo Road end of the pathway into Ibadan City.
Onigbinde submitted that projects of high value be spread to other zones in the state since the repayment of the money so borrowed would be borne by the state as a whole, stating: ‘’In other words, every zone in the state will bear the brunt of the repayment since the loan would be repaid from the resources of the state as a whole.
There are seven zones in the states. These are Oke-ogun Zone One, Oke-ogun Zone Two; Ogbomoso Zone, Oyo Zone, Ibarapa Zone, Ibadan City and Ibadan Less City. Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road covers Ibadan City and Ibadan Less City.
The submission of Onigbinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), therefore was that the loan to be obtained be jerked up to N200 billion. The Circular Road would still have the N150 billion meant for it while the remaining N50 billion would be spent on projects for the remaining five zones.
“That way, when money is being deducted for the repayment from Oyo State revenue, no zone would feel cheated as each of the zones would have something to point to as its own share of what the loan was used for”.
The lawyer who commended Governor Makinde for his purposeful governance urged him to consider this proposition. He also urged the Oyo State House of Assembly to critically examine this proposal of spreading projects to all the zones in the state from the expected loan.
“Adding N50 billion to the one meant for the completion of the Circular Road will make it easier to spread the projects accordingly”, he added.