Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the alleged takeover by the state government of structures housing public reading and learning facilities in the Dugbe area of Ibadan, the state capital.
APC described the planned conversion of the structures into lock up shops and shopping malls as not only shameful and ill-conceived, but also grossly unacceptable.
The party, in a statement to LEADERSHIP on Sunday in Ibadan by its State Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, also raised the alarm over alleged sale of the modern motor park at Wema Area on New Ife Road in Ibadan.
APC recalled that the park was built by the administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi when he was governor of the state.
Citing an unnamed source, Oyo APC alleged that the Park has been sold to a pastor who presides over a popular church situated very close to the facility.
It recalled that not a few residents of Ibadan, the state capital, were stunned recently when they observed sudden erection of massive structures believed to be private business complexes and shopping malls within the premises of the Oyo State Library Board in which the the defunct Western Region government built public libraries and other facilities being put into premium use by students, researchers, tourists among others until now.
Sadare said, “It is a sad reality that the buildings which used to serve as public libraries and archive in Dugbe axis of Ibadan have now paved the way for the development of commercial and business structures and the implication of this is that education and research development have been relegated to the background in the state by the same administration which has refused to address the issue of poor reading culture among young students.
“Without mincing words, the word ‘library’ is now strange to many students in public primary and secondary schools in Oyo State because a government does not care to build such facility or fix the existing ones which require good attention.”
The party wondered how a government would wake up one day and convert public reading facilities and archives into lock up shops “in the name of making money and thereby subject the entire society into the danger of illiteracy and ignorance.”
It added that, “It has also got to that stage when silence is no more golden as all well meaning individuals and stakeholders should begin to ask Governor (Seyi) Makinde questions on why he keeps selling off public heritage and properties which his government inherited from previous administrations.”
In the same vein, Oyo APC questioned alleged lease or concession of public facilities to those it called proxies “as it happened to OYSADEP Guest House in Saki and Agbowo Shopping Complex in Ibadan.”
The APC expressed sadness on the activities of the governor and a few other individuals around him, alleging their involvement in mismanagement of land and others resources belonging to the state which it noted to have paved the way for the surge in the cases of land grabbing in most parts of Ibadan, the state capital.
The main opposition party in the state added that there many cases of land grabbing involving some appointees of the governor, PDP lawmakers, serving local government officials and chieftains of the ruling party.
The statement maintained that “this trend has to stop now.”
