– Financial Palliative to Affected Workers Commendable
– Oyo Govt Clever By Quarter Over GRA Consideration
News filtered in today that Prince Dotun Oyelade, the Chairman of the BCOS, on behalf of Oyo state government, presented a cheque of 5.95 million naira, amounting to 163,000 naira each, to the 36 workers of the corporation ejected from their quarters for the purpose of converting the expanse quarters to GRA. This gesture coming from the state government to the affected former occupants of the demolished quarters is commendable, especially that the government or the management of the corporation was not under any legal obligation to provide sheltering quarters to the workers.
It needs to be stressed that the former occupants of the BCOS quarters were tenanted in the quarters while their rents were being deducted from their salaries. It therefore makes it magnanimous on the part of the state government for bailing the workers out of the temporary inconvenience that the notice to quit the quarters might have brought upon them.
Meanwhile, if the intent of the state government was not to put the former occupants to untold hardship by the notice to quit and the demolition, but to put the quarters to a more beneficial use, why did the government, through its garrulous CPS, exhibited allergy to criticisms from the opposition parties when all the government’s spokesperson should have done was to make clearer explanations as to why the policy was desirable. In his mindless desperation to stifle the voice of the opposition, CPS Adisa had to condescend to the level of an amateur communication strategist, having written a rejoinder to my criticisms of the impropriety of his lowly brand of media aideship under a pseudonym of one Faniyi Abiola from Gbaremu! Did Adisa have to resort to such infantile, deceitful strategy to prove that the government he defends has a favouring voice from among the public? It’s too amateurish! He alleged in that bland rejoinder that I was faceless, unknown, operating under a pseudonym! Preposterous stuff!
That the state government has shown magnanimity to the ejected former occupants of BCOS staff quarters by releasing financial palliative does not invalidate my earlier held opinion that turning the quarters to GRA was not well thought out as it will only serve the interest of the nouveau riche when the quarters could have been made to cater for the housing needs of low income earners in both public and private sectors of Oyo state. Governor Seyi Makinde, if he had robust advisers, could have used the quarters to score enduring social and political points by turning the quarters to low-cost housing estates, a policy that will have readily immortalised him after his tenure as the governor as it did late Lateef Jakande, former governor of Lagos state, who immortalised himself through the low-cost housing estates he built in Isolo and other parts of Lagos while he lived to savour the fortunes of his own immortalization for 38 years!
By the decision of the present government in Oyo state to convert the demolished quarters to GRA, it only emphasises the elitist propensity of the government while it confirms its disdain for the masses to whom low-cost housing estates, if built on the demolished quarters, will have been a huge relief.
As it stands now, with the payment of the financial palliative to the affected former occupants of the quarters, it’s no joke that the state government is serious about the GRA project. However, it’s not too late for the government to discard the GRA consideration and return to the drawing board to consider having low-cost housing estates that will cater for the housing needs of the teeming citizens of Oyo state. After all, there has been no news of any housing project being executed by the state government and it will be refreshing and soothing to the people of the state that during the reign of Governor Seyi Makinde, they’re considered entitled to enjoy dividends of governance in form of housing estates.
