AFRICAN Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Oyo State, Senator Olufemi Lanlehin has vowed to abolish the security levy imposed on churches, mosques and businesses in the state by the current government of Governor Abiola Ajimobi if he is elected governor next year.
Lanlehin said it was the sacred duty of government to secure the lives and property of the citizens in the state, adding that government ought not to impose security tax on the citizens and their businesses but should have looked elsewhere for funds to assist in security issues.
The ADC governorship candidate, who represented Oyo South senatorial district between 2011 and 2015, spoke on Sunday while featuring on an interview programme on Fresh FM, a privately-owned radio station monitored in Ibadan.
According to him, the parlous state of the economy of the state brought about by a “contract-driven government” has already squeezed enough from the citizens whom he said do not deserve additional burden.
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Lanlehin said as governor of the state, he would look for money from other sources to deal with security issues, just as he queried what was being done with the “monthly huge security votes.”
He promised to open up the books on security votes under him as governor, just as he added that he would factor his own security votes in the appropriation bill of the state.
Lanlehin also said his immediate priority as governor would be to re-inflate the economy of the state through patronising contractors resident in the state, prompt paying workers’ salaries, among others.
He also promised to de-centralise abattoir system by allowing local government councils with space and capacity to run their modern abattoirs equipped and fit for purpose in the 21st century.
Meanwhile, Senator Lanlehin decried the neglect of the Oke-Ogun zone in the last eight years by the current administration.
Lanlehin, who spoke at the Saki Day Celebration on Saturday, wondered why the state government hasn’t deemed it fit to construct the Ibadan-Iseyin-Saki road despite the huge potentialities that abound in that axis.
“We shall fund Saki Polytechnic adequately, and indeed all tertiary institutions in Oyo State. We shall renovate and refurbish its facilities using our local contractors”.
“If that’s done, benefits will trickle down to the people, and things will run smoothly,” Lanlehin said in a statement by his media assistant, Damola Adeoye.
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