Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has declared that his administration had delivered accelerated development to the state in the last three and a half years, and as such, his performance justified his re-election bid.
The governor, who stated this during a live interview session on one of the private radio stations in the state, noted that with the achievements recorded by his administration across the four service point areas of education, security, health and economic expansion through agribusiness and infrastructure, he deserved to be re-elected by the people of the state.
Makinde noted: “When I was campaigning for election in 2018, I brought out a roadmap and promised the people that it was meant for accelerated development of Oyo State. Now, based on what we have experienced, we have brought another roadmap, but this time round, it is for sustainable development 2023-2027.”
Infrastructure Development
He said his administration had been able to deliver growth that targeted its economic expansion programme through infrastructure development that had seen over 500 kilometres of road either completed or being constructed.
The governor maintained that in line with its determination to boost the economy of the state, the government embarked on an effort to link all five zones of the state with quality road infrastructure, as the zones had their uniqueness and contribution to the overall development of the state, affirming that compared to the previous administration, which he said only rehabilitated a few intra-city roads, his government had performed well.
Makinde listed his government’s infrastructural initiatives to include the 65km Moniya-Iseyin Road, while he said work is ongoing on Ogbomoso-Iseyin, Oyo-Iseyin, Beere-Ona Ara, Ajia-Airport Road with spur to Amuloko, Bembo-Apata road and the dualisation of the Airport Road, saying work is ongoing to improve the Ibadan Airport, with the building of a 500,000 litre Aviation Storage and Dispensing Facility.
Agribusiness
On the improvement of the economy of the state through agribusiness, the governor maintained that through several policy initiatives and encouragement of a business environment that is agribusiness-friendly, the state had attracted massive investments including the designation of the state as one of the Agro-processing Zones by the African Development Bank and the building of the second largest Sorbitol Plant in the world by Psaltery Ltd.
He noted that as part of his administration’s success stories in the agriculture sector, the state had the lowest food inflation in the country in 2019, pointing out how the government distributed improved seedlings to 10,000 farmers in the state, sent some youths to Nasarawa State to learn modern ways of doing agriculture and also collaborated with IITA on the STEM programme.
Makinde said in terms of physical development, his administration had converted the Fasola Farm Settlement to a farm estate, with the Eruwa Farm Settlement in the pipeline, noting that the Oke Ogun area had been linked to Ibadan, by November 2019.
“We have fresh produce there, and people can easily move from the production area onward to city centres. We are also fixing Oyo-Iseyin Road. Though it is a federal road, because it hit at the heart of our agriculture, we are fixing it. How else can you provide an enabling environment other than creating such infrastructure?” he asked.
Education
In the area of education, Governor Makinde said his administration had been working on upgrading the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, to a degree-awarding institution and had been able to put together all documentations, though it had been facing sabotage from some elements within the institution, assuring that the state would get the NUC approval for the upgrade of the institution anytime soon.
The governor also addressed the issue of the environment and waste management system, saying his government had continued to search for a sustainable solution to the agelong problems associated with the environment, including the issue of street beggars, by moving them to one of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps in the state.
He said: “We have not scored 100 percent concerning waste management. It is an issue that has been with us. We will do the needful but it requires time. We have the template. We are mobilising. We have employed 300 environmental officers that will engage the people so that they can have the right mindset. The people need to change their attitude and when we meet in the middle, our problems will be less.”
PDP Crisis
On the crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the national level, which had seen him and four other PDP governors boycott the campaign activities of the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Makinde said he would only support Atiku if the party did the needful, as according to him, the party must demonstrate that it could ensure fairness and justice within its system before seeking to implement same in the nation.
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