…As He Plans To Award Osun IGR Contract To Discredited Consultants
Any moment from now, the Osun State Government under the leadership of Senator Ademola Adeleke will award yet another contract to a company linked to the discredited former Commissioner of Works and Transport in Oyo State, Professor Abdulrahman ( formerly Raphael) Afonja.
Recall the state government of Osun has recently awarded the motorpark management contract to a one-year company owned by Afonja. The furore generated by this contract is yet to simmer. Now another contract to an obscure company linked to him!
This time around, it is the whole Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state government that is in question.
The IGR base of Osun, which was measly N2billion as at 2011 when the current collector was brought on board, is now in the region of N21billion every year. For this excellent performance, one would have expected the new government to keep faith with the current handlers, but that seems not to be the situation.
To take over from the revenue collector, the state government recently shortlisted three companies to wit: E-Tranzact Limited, Interswitch Limited and Gold Touch Technologies Limited. Of the three companies that pitched their solutions to the Revenue Mobilisation Committee set-up by Governor Adeleke, only Gold Touch Limited is the odd one because it is not only recently incorporated, faces behind it have no requisite experience generating revenue of Osun capacity. Its Arrowhead, Abdulrahman Afonja, is a man with political and moral baggage. He was sacked as Commissioner for Works and Transport in Oyo State by Governor Seyi Makinde for his involvement in park management fraud. If not for magnanimity of Makinde, Afonja should have been behind bar for the sleaze that took place under him.
Interswitch is an ISO certified payment solutions provider in Nigeria with footprints in Germany, Kenya, Uganda and Gambia. The company, with more than 20 years deeply robust experience in ICT and accounting technologies, is not only known for its Verve and Quickteller products, it is equally known for its cut-edge revenue recovery solution to state governments in Nigeria.
In the same breath, E-Tranzact is a Nigeria’s leading payment and switching company noted for powering payments and collections for government and businesses. With 18 years behind its sleaze, E-Tranzact operates with security standard approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Unfortunately, the exemplary record of the two companies above does not entice the current government in Osun, it is the record of a company with questionable background that gives it inspiration for the mere reason that it is the choice of the political powers-that-be in Osun State.
Why is an Ogbomosho-born Afonja being foisted despite his lack of capacity and uninspiring work ethics? We learnt Afonja is a political mentee of Senator Bukola Saraki, so he is plausibly the nominee of the former Senate President.
It is disheartening that the success story recorded thus far, by the state government in the area of IGR, is at the verge of being plunged into impasse for no other reason than economic rapaciousness of cabal managing the political fortunes of Governor Adeleke.
Without iota of doubt, Gold Touch Limited, to which the Osun State Government is about to award the contract of its revenue collection, lacks the needed capacity to deliver on this important project which borders on the economic well-being of the people.
Therefore, we implore Governor Adeleke not to elevate political correctness and patronage over competence, capacity and economic future of the people of Osun State.
Dr Israel Famuroti
Secretary General, League of Professionals in Nigeria, Osun State Branch.
