The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has shifted the debate over the 2027 elections in the state to the performance of the Governor ‘Seyi Makinde administration.
Performance and the Senator Alli challenge
The Sharafadeen Alli Campaign Organisation (SSACO), in a statement, on Thursday, challenged the state government to account for local government funding, healthcare delivery and the rising number of out-of-school children.
The SSACO Director of Media and Publicity, Bisi Oladele, accused Governor Makinde and the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) governorship candidate, Hon. Bimbo Adekanmbi, of diverting attention from pressing governance concerns by alleging that Senator Alli borrowed policies of the incumbent administration in his Oyo AHEAD manifesto.
SSACO maintained that Alli’s proposals were informed by his experience in public service, having served as a council chairman, Secretary to the State Government, Chief of Staff and currently as a senator.
The campaign organisation argued that the manifesto was designed to address what it described as gaps in the state’s governance, particularly at the grassroots level.
SSACO claimed that the 33 local government areas in Oyo State had received approximately ₦873 billion in Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) funds since 2019, but alleged that none of their budgets has been published online.
It said Alli would, if elected, issue an Executive Order on his first day in office to guarantee local government autonomy, ensure councils receive allocations on a fixed date and enforce the monthly remittance of the 10 per cent of state revenue due to local governments.
The organisation also questioned the state government’s performance in the health sector, citing figures which it claimed showed that six local government areas had no general hospital, while six general hospitals has no doctor as of October last year.
It further alleged that 10 hospitals had only one doctor each, while primary healthcare centres operated with an average of three workers, against a national standard of 24.
As part of its proposed intervention, SSACO said Alli’s Oyo Care programme would provide free healthcare for infants, pregnant women and residents aged 70 and above.
According to the organisation, the programme would also include continuous recruitment of healthcare workers, improved hospital facilities, regular availability of medicines, solar power for rural maternity centres and public performance dashboards at ward levels.
In education, the campaign organisation cited figures from the state’s school census, claiming that approximately 674,000 children aged between three and 17 were out of school in Oyo State, allegedly the highest figure in the South-West.
It also alleged that public primary school classrooms accommodated an average of 100 pupils, while seven out of every 10 children aged between seven and 14 could not perform basic mathematical calculations.
SSACO stated that Alli’s education agenda would seek to reduce classroom populations to 30 pupils, rehabilitate schools across the 33 local government areas, introduce scholarships for academically gifted children from poor backgrounds and establish school governing boards involving parents and communities.
The manifesto also proposes an Apprenticeship Law, an agricultural transformation programme, a ₦10 billion youth development fund and housing schemes for low and middle-income earners.
On infrastructure, the organisation disclosed that the proposed plan included a 20-year warranty on every newly constructed road.
Responding to the administration’s claim that Oyo State was the most liveable state, SSACO challenged the government to make public the report, its publisher and the methodology used to arrive at the ranking.
It also dismissed claims that Alli’s proposal for one primary healthcare centre per ward amounted to copying the Makinde administration.
It argued that the availability of healthcare facilities without adequate personnel and equipment did not translate into effective service delivery.
The campaign organisation further described Adekanmbi as a continuation of the incumbent administration’s policies, insisting that Oyo AHEAD represented an alternative approach to governance.
