Bodija Blast: N50bn Relief Fund Turns Into Political Battle

Last week, a storm of controversy raged over the N50 billion relief fund that was approved by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for victims of Bodija explosion in Oyo state on January 16, 2024. With accusations and counter-accusations ripping across national discourse, both sides in the debate have been enmeshed in ascertaining the exact amount that was released by the federal government. Following a media interview by the Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, where he declared that he would not be supporting the re-election of President Tinubu in 2027, the displeased governor accused the president of not doing much for Oyo state.

Reacting to the interview Makinde granted to select broadcast platforms in Ibadan, former governor Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state lampooned Makinde for receiving a whopping sum of N50 billion from President Tinubu and diverting the same for his presidential aspiration. Initially, the reaction of Makinde was to challenge Fayose to substantiate his allegations. In a statement, accompanied by a memo from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the former Ekiti state helmsman said the memo from the OAGF was a response to the challenge posed by Makinde for proof of his claim.

Defending his accusation that the Oyo state government should come clean on the matter, as shown by the OAGF memo on the payment of N50 billion to the Oyo state government, Fayose said, “Two days ago, I stated on national television that Oyo state under Governor Seyi Makinde received N50 billion from the federal government as intervention for the Ibadan explosion. Yesterday, the governor asked me to provide evidence, and here is the evidence he requested. Only N4.5 billion was paid to victims of the Ibadan explosion. The rest, alongside other intervention funds, was diverted to fund his presidential ambition. This, in part, explains the crisis in the PDP and his frequent attacks on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration.”

The leaked memo on the N50 billion relief fund would lead to a flurry of reactions from various quarters, calling on the Oyo state government to come clean on the N50 billion relief fund for victims of Bodija explosion and how they were disbursed. The Oyo state government, through the governors’ special adviser (media), Dr. Sulaimon Olanrewaju, said only N30 billion was released by the federal government to the state government from the approved N50 billion relief fund. The government went further to reveal that 15 per cent of the released funds, amounting to N4.5 billion was given to victims to ameliorate their sufferings, while the remaining was for the upgrade of infrastructure and security equipment for Bodija and environs. The governor’s media aide also alleged that the “partial release” of the sum of N30 billion was accompanied by demands for alleged inducements.

On New Year Day, the Makinde government, through the state Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, in a statement, claimed that the N30 billion is untouched in the state government infrastructure support account domiciled with the First Bank. Clearly, Olanrewaju’s statement in which he disclosed that N4.5 billion had been disbursed to victims contradicts Oyelade’s assertion that the funds remain untouched. There’s no doubt that the posers raised over the N50 billion relief fund for Bodija explosion must be seen in the context of demanding accountability from the public officials. That Governor Makinde administration was not initially forthcoming on the exact amount released by the federal government, including releasing names of victims and projects executed through the relief fund.

From the discourse on the matter, it is obvious that the Oyo state government did not collect N50 billion, but N30 billion. The insistence by the state that the funds are still domiciled with the First Bank account, nearly one year after, shows lack of urgency to address the dilemma suffered by victims of the explosion. It’s inscrutable for Oyo state to approve only 15 per cent in providing temporary relief for victims when ideally a chunk of the relief fund should be disbursed to the victims in order to raise them from the ashes of despair and disillusionment. To delay the deployment of the N30 billion on the pretext of waiting for the payment of the balance of N20 billion by the federal government does not serve the interest of the victims and the urgency of rebuilding infrastructure damaged by the explosion.

The Oyo state government must, without haste, commence the deployment of the available funds to provide the much-needed relief to the victims and rebuild destroyed infrastructure caused by the explosion. We call on President Tinubu to direct the OAGF to release the balance of the approved relief fund. Parties in the bickering should not constitute a clog in the wheel of the earnest desire to provide relief for the victims. The Oyo state government should stop playing politics and instead collaborate with the federal government to avoid acts capable of heightening the pains and despair of the victims of the Bodija explosion.