Gov. Seyi Makinde’s Giant Strides in Redefining Governance

…says We Don’t Need Strong Governors, We Need Strong Institutions

Engr. Seyi Makinde could be described as a political neophyte before he assumed office in 2019 as the Executive Governor of Oyo State because he never held any political position nor occupy any public office.

He was a successful Electrical / Electronics Engineering professional and businessman.

Upon assumption of office, the daunting challenge before him was to convince the people of Oyo State of his capability to govern successfully.

So he produced a document, “Roadmap to Accelerate Development of Oyo State 2019 to 2023”, and he told the people to hold him accountable to promises made in the document. He was determined that he does not want to be a tough or strong Governor but to build strong Institutions that will be lasting legacies in Oyo State.

Politics Editor, TUNDE OPALANA examines how far the Governor has gone in re-engineering a new modern Oyo State through urban and rural infrastructural legacy projects. Excerpts .

His Venturing into Governance

Relating how he got the PDP’s governorship ticket in 2018, contested and won governorship election in 2019 against all odds, Makinde said “Oyo people took a decision because we did not have godfather.Nobody sponsored me. Nobody gave a dime for us to get in there. But the people of Oyo State decided that they want to give this opportunity to an outsider.

” Before that time, you people say Seyi ,what has he done before? Has he been a councilor? No. Has he been to the State House of Assembly? No. Has he been to House of Reps? No. How about Senate? I tried twice. I was rejected.

“No experience in politics, No experience in governance, but I have done well for myself in business. And before that time, the entire Southwest was APC. All the six states. But Oyo State said, no, we dare to be different.”

His governance policy thrust

Governor Makinde said he saw his election in 2019 and re- election in 2023 as a lifetime opportunity to change the narrative of governance not only in Oyo State but Nigeria, hence he conceptualized a policy framework titled “Roadmap to Accelerate Development of Oyo State 2019 to 2023”.

“This is one promise I have given to my people ; that we will continue to build strong institutions in our dear state. I have said it time again that we do not need strong governors, what we need are strong institutions”

Executing campaign promises

Doing a second term in office, the Governor has taken the task of re- engineering the state beyond physical development and infrastructure building, moved the Pacesetter State up the ladder of economic prosperity by emerging among the highest revenue generating states and engineering a new socioeconomic order driven by an agency known as Oyo State Mobilisation Agency for Socio- Economic Development (OYMASED).

Sectoral Assessment

Road Infrastructure

When Governor Makinde came into power, he did an audit of the roads constructed during the late Isiaka Ajimobi’s administration and found out that it constructed 33.95km in right years.

He gave a fair share of his transformational roadmap to road infrastructure because of his belief that “Where road goes, development follows”.

No wonder in his first term in office, Governor Makinde commissioned 184.37km of road network including two bus terminals and one junction improvement.

Since he took oath of office for second term, his government started working on 95.58km of feeder roads in Ibadan. This is in fulfilment of his promise that “under Omituntun 2.0, our people should look forward to us completing all ongoing road projects and giving priority attention to internal roads in urban areas.”

One of the major promises kept by the Makinde administration is the Ibadan Circular Road project named after former Governor Rashidi Ladoja.

The 32.2km kilometers first phase of the project is a four – lane dual carriage motorway linking Lagos- Ibadan expressway to Ibadan – Ife highway and it was awarded for N70bn under Public- Private Partnership Build, Operate and Transfer model, with completion date set within 18 months.

Awarded to ENL Consortium, the project was to have bridges, interchanges/ flyovers , streetlights, security posts, filling stations and other road infrastructure.

Talking about the project, the governor said “the Ibadan Circular Road project is thinking sustainability. About 20 years ago, our past leaders dreamt of the project – a type of thinking that should lead to meaningful development. We know that we must stop thinking only about the present and take actions that will secure our future for us in Ibadanland and in Oyo State at large.

“On the project, we have completed the construction of the bridges and interchanges and we have also flagged off the 32.2km road infrastructure component of the South East wing of the road.

“This project is the important to the economic development agenda of Oyo State. From the South East wing, we have moved to the North East wing, which is another 34km and it would take us from here to Moniya,where we have the Dry Port , Ilu Tuntun and the train station”.

He promised to interconnect Oyo State with quality roads, the delivery of 65km Moniya – Ijaiye- Iseyin Road, 34km Oyo- Iseyin Road, 12.5km Theophilus Akinyele Road connect, Lagos- Ibadan expressway to Abeokuta Road, limited rehabilitation of Iganna- Eleekokan – Iganna Road, Lanlate- Eruwa- Maya Road as well as the ongoing Ido- Eruwa Road, Saki- Ogbomoso- Igboho Road, among others.

“It took us two years to get the Federal Government approval. And the road is 34 kilometers. It’s a major link between one zone of the state, Oyo Zone, linking Okeogun Zone. We have five geopolitical zones in Oyo State. We have Ibadan Zone, we have Oyo Zone, Oke Ogun zone, Ibarapa zone, Ogbomoso zone.

“So, this is a major link between Oyo Zone, linking Okeogun Zone, and it is also passing through a major agro industrial zone. So, I said to them, we don’t care about whether it’s a federal road, it’s a state road, it’s a local government road, all we want is, we want to expand our economy and we also want our people to pass on a smooth road.

” Actually, from where we are here. It will take you 15 minutes to get to Iseyin which is about maybe 19, 20 kilometers . We built the road from Iseyin also to Ogbomoso. It is a brand new road. Nothing was in existence in that place before.

“That is also a major road linking one zone of the state to another zone. It is 76.6 kilometers. It will take you 45 minutes. So, from here to Ogbomoso is about one hour. And to ilorin airport is one hour 25 minutes. So, even if you fly to Ilorin airport, you still get here in one hour 25 minutes”, said the Governor while interfacing with journalists recently in Ibadan.

Governor Makinde made it abundantly clear that his administration will go ahead to fix 100 kilometers of inner roads in Ibadan and would also move to other parts of the state once that was achieved.

The renovated feeder roads delivered by the government, including the 8.5km dualised Mile 110 through Ring- Road to Challenge , 3.8km Iyaganku through NUJ Press Centre to Ring – Road and 10.8km dualized Bus- Stop /Agodi Gate through Beere- Oja’ba to Molete , 3.5km Oke Adu, through Aremo to Orita Aperin, 1.4km Idi Arere through Popoyemoja to Oke Ado and 2.15km Oke Ado through Imalefalafia, Ososami to Ring – Road, have no doubt brought a new lease of life to road users on the axes.

“All the roads we have fixed are also coming from with solar street lights”, said the Governor.

Improved Transportation System

“We have transformed the transport system and even our transporters. We have taken them out of what they were used to; parks without toilets, without shelters, without coordination. Now, they are in modern parks. If you want to travel to any part of Oyo State or beyond, they will take down your statistics . When there is rainfall,they have space where passengers can stay. The environment is clean and hygiene is okay”, these were the words of Prof. Dahud Kehinde Sangodoyun, Oyo State Commissioner for Public Works and Transport.

The Executive Chairman and Sole Administrator of the Pacesetter Transport Service, Dr. Ibraheem Salami (Dikko) said the Makinde’s administration’s SAfER initiative in the transport sector is supporting about 17,000 residents of the state daily through the transport service.

With 55 operational buses all fully digitalized , the chairman said the idea behind digitalizing the fleet buses “because we were at the mercy of our drivers and ticketers .

“When we increased the number of buses from five to fifty – five , we realized that there were leakages and loopholes across the entire state . It was whatever amount the drivers told us they made that we would accept. So that was what prompted us to bring digitalization into the fold. We launched the Pacesetter Card on September 24, 2023 and within the space of a month, we realized we were making more money even though there was room for improvement. So far, so good, we are doing very well”.

He said prices for the cards are relatively cheap. Oladeji said “the highest rate to.move from one point to another in Ibadan is N200 no.matter how far you are going. The only place we charge N500 is when boarding from the Train Station in Moniya . But moving intra- city, the highest is N150 to N200 and we are using 34 buses in Ibadan currently.

“Within Saki, Iseyin, Ogbomosho, Oyo and Ibarapa, the highest is N100 because they are not as wide as Ibadan. We fuel each bus with 70 liters of diesel , which we buy at the rate of N1,200 per litre which means that we spend above N70,000 but we only make around N40,000 daily on each bus”.

Repositioning Oyo State Economy

“We have revamp Oyo economy through Infrastructural development, said Gov. Makinde. Before the advent of his administration the state government under Governor Ajimobi was making a monthly revenue of N1.7 billion but the Makinde government increased this to N3.8 billion but presently in 2024, Oyo State government generates about N6 billion internally monthly.

The governor said “we did not only move the state up the ladder of economic prosperity, by emerging among the highest revenue generating states. It also became the model for state governments in the area of infrastructure development and agribusiness development”.

The proud governor said his administration was able to strengthen the state economy through agencies and institutions such as the Oyo State Mobilisation Agency for Socio- Economic Development (OYMASED), the Oyo State Project Monitoring Agency, the Oyo State Rule of Law Authority,the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA), the Oyo State Anti- Corruption Agency and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources .

He said “these are the institutions of the future ; they will play pivotal roles in the engineering of a modern Oyo State , working with existing ministries, departments and agencies”.

Chairman, Oyo State Board of Internal Revenue, Femi Awakan commended the governor for being able to manage to bridge the trust gap between the government and the governed.
He said the Governor has been able to shore up the revenue base by blocking loopholes through the use of ICT .

Education : Makinde taking Education beyond bricks and mortal

The governor laid emphasis on sustainable educational development. Upon resumption of office, hr abolished the N3,000 school fees in public schools, declared free and compulsory education at both primary and secondary levels. In 2019, he upwardly reviewed budgetary allocation to education from 3 percent to 10 percent even as he promised to meet the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendation of voting between 15 and 20 percent of states’ budgets to education.

Keeping his promise, he raised the state budgetary allocation to education to N47 billion (22.3 percent) in 2020, N56. 3 billion (21 percent) in 2021, N54.1 billion (18.37 percent) in 2022, N58.2 billion (18.78 percent) in 2023, and N90,654,949, 252.68 billion (20.88 percent) in 2024.

“Over the last five years, more that 700 classrooms in all 33 local government areas of the state have been renovated. Similarly, over 60 model schools have been completed while free textbooks and exercise books have been provided to secondary school students.

“Recently, the state government disbursed N3.5 billion educational support grant, facilitated by the World Bank under the Better Education Service Delivery for All- Additional Funding (BESDA – AF) , to 105 primary schools in rural areas across the three senatorial districts of the state for renovation. The government also sank boreholes and constructed perimeter fences in many schools”, said Prof. Akinade Alamu, chairman of the state Teaching Service commission (TESCOM).

Agriculture Support As Makinde’s Safer Way to The Future

As the hardship and difficult times occasioned by the recent removal of fuel subsidy persists, the government of Oyo State under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde demonstrated it’s adept ability to beat the challenges by securing today and safeguarding the future

The government gave farm inputs support to 10,000 farmers under the Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER) programme. Out of this number of farmers, billed to receive seedlings, cassava stems and other farm inputs, the state government has reached out to about 1,545 farmers in 19 local government areas in less than two months after the roll out of the programme.

Future of food security is being carefully guided through the SAfER route through the Oyo-Ncares , in partnership with the World Bank under the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA).

Agriculture – Fashola Agribusiness Hub

Determined to transform Oyo economy through Agribusiness, the state government refurbished the old farm settlement in Fashola area of Oyo town to a multi- dimensional agric- hub.

Talking about the Fashola Agribusiness Hub,Governor Makinde said “this is supposed to be the middle of nowhere. It was an idea conceptualized during, Chief Awolowo time as a premier of western region.

“Here they were breeding cattles, the mother cattles, the breeders that you would now take somewhere else to breed and sell and eat, But Nigeria happened to this place, they ate the breeder and the mothers. They ate everything. now we’re trying to provide this. Where you are is space is for agro-tourism.

“So, we’re refurbishing all of that so that we can tell our story. That, once upon a time, there was a country that built Cocoa House from efforts like this.

“So, it’s just an opportunity to show you that a long time ago, thinkers passed through this place they did certain things and for us, we want to bring some of these things back and see how we can utilize it to make life a little better for our people.

The government within the first four years brought development fund of over 120 million Dollars into the state to support agribusiness.

Security: Securing Oyo for Economic Expansion

“As a governor, it is my responsibility to ensure that every resident in Oyo State is assured of security of their life and prosperity. Without security there can be no meaningful development”, said Gov. Seyi Makinde on July 17, 2019, barely two months in office.

Since he made this promise, he never looked back in sustaining this by first strengthening the Oyo State Joint Security Task Force codenamed ‘Operation Burst’.

The Governor on October 24,2023 signed the Executive Order 1 of 2023 aimed at protecting mining communities against insecurity and exploitation .

In the Executive Order he made it known that “though mining activity is in the ex exclusive list, the state government chose to be proactive in ensuring adequate protection of the mining communities against insecurity and exploitation, as well as on the attendant environmental issues”.

Special Adviser on Security to the Governor, Fatai Owoseni, a retired Commissioner of Police said the Makinde administration has made security one of the four pillars of focus.

He said the government has in all donated more that 350 vehicles with state – of- the- art communication gadgets to all security agencies across board; to revive the Swift Respond Squad, to all the DHOs and Area Commands including Hunters Group and the regional Amotekun security outfit.

In addition, Owoseni said the state government invested heavily in the ‘Light- Up Oyo State’ project and provision of CCTV cameras under the ‘City Watch’ project.

Funding

On how he has been managing the state resources to build these legacy infrastructural projects, Gov. Makinde said there was no magic but all is about focus and determination.

He said “on the issue of funding, we have ensured that our budgeting system aligns with our aspiration .In line with that determination to commit more to building infrastructure so that we can achieve the vision of economic expansion, we deliberately channelled resources to capital projects.

“For instance the Oyo State 2024 Budget of Economic Recovery is N434,221,765,938.79. The total capital expenditure is N222,337,320,199.85 while the total recurrent expenditure is N211,884,445,738,.94. We prepared a budget in which capital expenditure is about 2.4 percent higher than the recurrent expenditure, because we believe that the growth of our economy is dependent on the fiscal decision we have regarding our capital expenditure.

“That is why we are focusing on projects that will yield positive results for our economy in our areas of comparative advantage, which are agriculture, mi ING and tourism.”

What does the future holds for GSM

The governor said his political belongs to God while abhorring speculations. He was apparently reacting to an online report claiming that he had officially declared to run against President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

He said he did not set out to transform Oyo State because of presidential ambition.

“But all I can say to you is, I’m old enough, if I want to do something, I will come out and say, this is what I want to do. So, no speculation, nobody can push my agenda. I will push my agenda when the time comes.”