By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
A consultant to Oyo State Government , Mr Adeyinka Ajayi on Friday, faulted the claims credited to the President, Association of Water and Borehole Drillers (AWDROP) over the N30,000 permit fee levied on drilling companies in Oyo State .
Mr Ajayi while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, declared, “the policy is not new” and that the N30,000 was a reduction from the N50,000 levied on them in 2018,
Emphasising that the N30,000 permit fee levied on drilling companies in the state was signed by the association in 2019, Mr Ajayi said the statement credited to Ale on the N30,000 permit fee levied on drilling companies was unfortunate.
Mr Ajayi, who is also the Chairman, Royalgem Multisector Limited pointed out that contrary to the claim by Mr Ale, the N30, 000 payment was levied on drilling companies and not the masses .
According to him, the fee was reduced from N50,000 as agreed to by the associations in 2018 to N30,000 in June 2019 under the Governor Makinde administration and that all the associations agreedwith the Oyo State
Speaking further, Mr Ajayi stressed that Mr Ale grouse was as a result of a rig under his care which was impounded on Saturday, March 26.saying, “Ale did not comply with the payment and a notice of non-compliance was sent to him on March 2. He got the letter tored it and threw it to the person who delivered it to him.”
“He had since then refused to collect any notices sent to him. This led to the impounding of a rig belonging to DSR Drilling Company under his cover on March 26,” he said.
Oyo state Chairman of AWDROP , Mr Kolawole Olayiwola, dissociated the body from the rejection the N30, 000 levies saying, the state chapter was fully involved in the resolution the led to the reduction
The AWDROP Chairman declared that Ale can’t claim that he was not aware of the payment as agreed in 2019, and the statement credited to Ale is very unfortunate, adding, the agreement as contained in the 2019 agreement was N75,000 for registration, N50,000 for annual renewal and N30,000 permit fee for borehole , wondered why is Mr Ale just coming out in 2022 to kick against what had been signed since 2019.
“The agreement on this fees was signed on June 29, 2019 with the state government at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.On August 1, 2019 a compliance letter from Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue was sent to Ale, ”
