Oshiomhole Embezzled Over N1trn On Inflated Projects —Ize-Iyamu

An aspirant from the peoples Democratic Party,PDP for the upcoming Edo State governorship election,
Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has disclosed that
the Adams Oshiomhole-led administration in
the state received over N1 trillion in the
last seven and a half years from the
Federation Account and Internally Generated
Revenue, IGR, but lamented that the fund
was squandered on highly inflated projects
that were not evenly distributed across
the state.
He also accused the state
government of
focusing on two sectors of the economy to
the detriment of other critical sectors,
regretting that the evils of poverty and
unemployment were not tackled
while agriculture, industry, tourism, sports,
housing and other sectors
were neglected Pastor Ize-Iyamu, a former
Secretary to the Edo State
Government, disclosed this in a paper
entitled, Edo State Economy: The Way out,
he presented at a town hall meeting,
yesterday, in Benin, organised by a group,
House 2 House Support Initiative.
He, however, commended the Edo State
Government for increasing the monthly
Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the
state from N300 million to N2 billion.
According to him, “Edo State Government in
the past seven and a half years received
over N1 trillion as revenue from the
Federation Account and IGR. This is
unprecedented in the revenue profile of the
state since its inception. This huge revenue
was unfortunately not used to grow the
economy of the state but squandered on
highly inflated projects that were not evenly
distributed across the state.
“They were restricted to one or two sectors
to the detriment of other critical areas. The
evils of poverty and unemployment were not
tackled while sectors such as agriculture,
industry, tourism, sports, housing, solid
minerals were ignored. Existing factories like
Bendel Brewery, Edo Line, Edo Courier, Edo
Hotel and Bendel Insurance have
been allowed to collapse.
“A government that chooses deliberately to
ignore agriculture, industry, tourism, sports,
solid minerals, etc cannot be
seriously concerned about the economy of
the state. The present government
has, however, made serious effort at
increasing the internally generated revenue
of the state from N300 million monthly when
they came in to N2billion monthly. This is
commendable."