Despite worries about the cost of governance in the country, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Ondo State Governor, recently appointed 344 Special Advisers (SAs) and Senior Special Advisers (SSAs).
The appointment was announced by Ebenezer Adeniyan, the chief press secretary to the governor, last Friday. Aiyedatiwa said the appointment is a “continuation of efforts to enhance governance and service delivery to the people of the state.”
According to the statement signed by Adeniyan, the new appointments are spread across the 18 Local Government Areas, 33 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) and 203 wards in the state.
While complimenting the new aides, Aiyedatiwa “urged them to bring to bear their wealth of experience and dedicate themselves to serving the people of the state.”
However, BusinessDay observed none of the new appointees have a portfolio to their names.
Sections 196 and 208 of the 1999 Constitution, grant a state governor power to appoint aides to assist him in performing his functions and the number of aides to be appointed, according to the Constitution, is unlimited.
“The number of such advisers and their remunerations and allowances shall be prescribed by law or by resolution of the House of Assembly of the State,” it states.
In February 2024, Aiyedatiwa appointed some individuals as special advisers.
They include Olugbenga Omole, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy; Mrs Olamide Falana, Special Adviser on Gender Affairs; and Mr. Alabi Johnson, Special Adviser on Energy.
Aiyedatiwa, upon his assumption into office as governor after the demise of former governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, appointed five aides including Adeniyan. Others were Abire Sunday, Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media; Smart Omodunbi, Special Assistant on Political Matters; Monturayo Oyedele, Special Assistant on Photography and Temitayo Iperepolu, Special Assistant on Domestic and Government House.
According to the latest data from the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission, a special adviser gets N380,241.76 monthly. That is N4,562,901.12 million as the yearly salary of a single special aide, excluding accommodation, furniture, leave estacodes, medical, severance gratuity, and other allowances.
As each special aide collects over N4.5m yearly, this amounts to the sum of N1,569,637,985.28 which would be earned annually by the 344 appointed aides, excluding those appointed previously.
Ondo’s out-of-school children crisis
In February 2024, the state Universal Basic Education Board expressed concern over the number of children who are out of school.
“From the statistics, Ondo has 240,000 out-of-school children,” said Victor Olabimtan, Chairman of the Ondo SUBEB, stating that “this is alarming. But it is not happening only in Ondo State, that is how the problem is in other states of the federation.”
Findings revealed that Ondo is one of the states with poor health conditions.
An analysis of the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey & National Immunization Coverage and a 2023 report on maternal mortality by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group indicate.
The 2021 MICS published by the National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund shows that Ondo recorded 23.6 percent of zero-dose children – meaning those who have never been vaccinated followed by Zamfara (22.9%), Ogun (21.3%), Kano (30.2%), and Borno (32.3%) with low immunisation rates. States ahead include Sokoto with more than half of the children (50.7%) were never vaccinated, followed by Bauchi and Gombe at 35.3% and 34.4%, respectively.
Reacting, Festus Ogun, a public interest lawyer, described the appointment as “indirect vote buying”
“The government is indirectly using the state resources to buy loyalty for the next election,” he said while speaking with our correspondent.
He explained the appointment of the 344 aides as an “abuse”, adding that “it shows that the government is only interested in getting some votes from people (appointees) who are going to get at least two months salaries before the conduct of the election. That is why I called it an indirect vote buying.”
‘New aides to be sacked after gov election’
There are indications that the 344 newly appointed aides by the governor may be sacked after November 2024, sources in the government disclosed.
One of the top government officials in the state, who craved anonymity, disclosed that the state governor had no plan of retaining the appointed aides specifically. He, however, said Aiyedatiwa could only appoint very few after the election “because the governor already has names of individuals, loyalists precisely to be appointed as aides. Many of the commissioners and some of the aides appointed after the death of Akeredolu would also be replaced entirely,” the source said.
Another source in the government circle, while corroborating the source above added that the government only appoints the aides for election purposes.
Recall that the appointment was made 70 days into the governorship election in the state scheduled for November 16.
Speaking further, one of the workers in the government house disclosed that the number of aides was so large that they could man various wards across the state.
According to the source, the appointees have no job other than to canvas for the governor in their “territories” for his emergence. Hence, it cut across all the 18 LGAs and 33 LCDAs as stated by Adeniyan.
“That is why there is no portfolio to their names. Not even the SSAs who are few. One thing I can assure you is that they will all be fired after the poll. The governor has no room for appointment,” he said.
