- Action costs state, banks N150m weekly – Opposition
The Labour Party in Ogun State has raised the alarm that the state government is losing N150million every week, following the recent demolition of shops inside the M.K.O Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, the state capital.
But the state government has dismissed LP’s claims as “mere rumour,” saying the opposition party could not substantiate the figure.
Bank managers say the loss is over N150m per week
The LP alleged that since the state government demolished traders’ shops and stalls at the stadium, some banks in the state had been lamenting the huge loss of the savings from the traders, which it said had been having negative effect on money circulation in the state.
The state Chairman, LP, Abayomi Arabambi, in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abeokuta, disclosed that he gathered from some bank managers that, with the demolition of the shops and the evacuation of the traders from the MKO Abiola Stadium, both the state government and the commercial banks in the state had been suffering the consequences in terms of huge loss of weekly revenue.
Arabambi described the demolition of the traders’ shops by the government as ‘executive recklessness’.
He said, “Even the banks will suffer for it, because I can conveniently tell you the savings from here to those banks on a weekly basis. I have a lot of bank managers as friends and they say it is over N150,000,000. The savings from the traders to the banks is over N150,000,000 weekly and that will affect the money in circulation for now.”
The LP boss further decried the government’s action against the traders as negating moral justice, advising that it should have set up a joint task force to monitor business activities at the stadium, rather than sending the traders packing on a flimsy excuse that some people perpetrate illicit commercial sexual activities at the stadium.
“On this illicit trade, at least, you should have set up a committee or task force that would involve most of the people operating there. They should set up a joint task force that will monitor the whole thing. Even those who want to do their illicit sex trade can go to hotels and do whatever nonsense they want to do there,” he said.
Arabambi, who expressed displeasure over the alleged illicit sexual activities at the stadium, said government should have combated the anti-social act rather than pushing the traders out of the stadium where they had been getting their means of livelihood.
He added that, by its action against the traders at the stadium, the state government had forcibly sent many of them into the labour market, especially given the parlous economic situation of the state.
But in a swift reaction, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Dayo Adeneye, denied the LP’s claims, describing it as a rumour.
“We don’t deal with rumour. Where did they get that figure from? We don’t respond to frivolous allegations,” he said.
Adeneye, who said that the figure being bandied by the LP never existed, noted that the government took the decision to return the stadium to its original purpose and rid it of illicit set trade.
According to him, Governor Ibikunle Amosun will remain committed to the welfare of the people by relocating the affected traders to the old Trade Fair complex.
“The stadium must go back to its original purpose of what it’s meant for. It is for sporting activities. We have deliberated on that with the Executive Council and the governor has graciously agreed that they will be moved to a new location, which is the old Trade Fair complex. We are not unmindful of the stakeholders that are being ejected from the place and we remain dedicated to the welfare of our people,” he said.
