By Adeyinka Adeniran
Barely after the decision was made, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state on Wednesday presented 100 additional operational vehicles to security operatives in the state.
This is as the governor promise to do more for the welfare of security operatives working in the state.
Corenews reports that the state government had in August 2023 announced its intention to procure 100 units of Kia Rio 1.4ltrs engine and five units of Kia Optima 2.0ltrs engine after it was approved at the State Executive Council meeting held earlier.
The vehicles whose cost at the time was put at around N3.354billion were branded, equipped with communication gadgets and distributed to security agencies across the 33 local governments in the state.
The government at the time has said the effort was basically to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of security operatives in the state noting that, if the operatives have all the equipments to work with, the people will live in a more safer environment.
While presenting the vehicles at a brief ceremony, the governor who acknowledge that although some people who checked the cost of the vehicles have alleged a slight difference noted that the difference in cost could have been due to the other security features to be added to the car.
He urged the people to hold his administration accountable for money spent on all the efforts been carried out, noting that he is not spending his father’s private money but from the commonwealth of the state.
Makinde said “We are here today to appreciate our service Commanders, our officers and men of the various security agencies in Oyo state. I want to on behalf of the government and people of Oyo state say thank you to you. Throughout 2023, we faced various security issues and challenges but you made Oyo state one of the safest state in Nigeria.
“So, what can we do? We can only give maximum support to ensure that your work is not like an hardship posting and I want to give you the assurance that we will continue to support you. Patrol vehicles are just vehicles. The process, the system, the utilisation with the officers and men that will be utilising it is actually the most important thing, the communication are the things that are very important.
“I want to say that, forget about these vehicles, I am not the one doing this, it is not from my personal money, it is not my fathers money, it is from our commonwealth, so please continue to hold us accountable.”
He said further “I know when we bought these vehicles some people went to check the prices and they saw it is a bit more expensive than the regular KIA in the market, well these are for security operations. Whatever the explanation as to why it is slightly more expensive, it is our common money and all of us in government are suppose to be accountable for how that money is spent for the benefits of our people.
“So, don’t say His Excellency did this, scrutinise it and ask us question and we will answer. Before we present it to the beneficiaries, I want to please ask our service Commanders to pay special attention to the welfare of the people that they want to deploy.
“This morning (Wednesday) around 1AM, I was coming from Kolapo Ishola to my house in Ikolaba and just at that Junction in front of Maryhill, I saw the Police personnel out there, it wasn’t a roadblock, they parked their vehicle by the side of the road and monitoring everything going on, I was so impressed and thankful to them.
“So, let me publicly thank the Commissioner of Police for the leadership and motivation you are providing for your people.
“For these vehicles and officers that you will deploy, I am ready and willing to do more to look after their welfare, it is extremely important. Don’t just leave the vehicle to them and tell them to go out to the field to keep Oyo state safe and secure, come back to us on your welfare requirement and we will attend to that.”
Speaking earlier, the Special Adviser on security, CP Fatai Owoseni (rtd) thanked the governor for the various support to the security operatives.
He said only a few state can compete with Oyo in terms of security infrastructure and provision of support to security operatives adding that the series of donation and presentations of security vehicles.
Appreciating the governor on behalf of other Security Commanders in the State, the Commissioner of Police, Adebola Hamzat said the donation is the second he would receive from the government in the spate of six months that he resumed in the state.
He said the first set of donations of 15 pick up vans which were very germane to security operations was in addition to the over 80 the Police had before.
In the last presentation, it was gathered that both the Police and Amotekun Corps got 40 vehicles each, other operatives shared 20 vehicles.
