By Sulaimon Olanrewaju
The second presidential debate, which took place on Tuesday, October 28, 1980, at the Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, was the defining moment for the United States of America’s presidential campaign of that year. The debate, watched by 80.6 million viewers, had two participants; President Jimmy Carter and his Republican Party challenger, Mr Ronald Reagan.
In his response to one of the 12 questions from the panelists, Reagan posed a question to Americans: ‘Are you better off today than you were four years ago?’ That question changed the campaign narrative because it allowed the voters to intentionally assess their government and see how the Carter presidency had affected their lives.
Their verdict was damning, as Reagan went ahead to win the November 4 election, polling 43,899,248 votes, representing 50.8 per cent of the popular vote, and an Electoral College victory of 489 to 49.
The Reagan Question brings to the fore the essence of democracy. Democracy, the process through which the people vest the power to manage the socioeconomic resources of the state in their elected representatives, is not an end in itself. Rather, it is a means to an end. The end of democracy is the improvement of the people’s living standard. A democratic system that does not improve the lot of the people is a sham and a scam because the allure of democracy is that with the people deciding those who govern them, their welfare and wellbeing are guaranteed. Many countries opted for the Athenian democratic system because of the belief that the people can neither be shortchanged nor left in the lurch since they hold the key to the choice of those who lead them.
This position is corroborated by Section 14(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, which states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. This section of the constitution presents the security and welfare of the people conjunctively as the sole purpose of government. The import of this is that no matter what else a government accomplishes, if it fails to provide security for its people and does not place premium on their wellbeing, it has failed the people.
In 2019, Engineer ‘Seyi Makinde made a pitch for the votes of Oyo State people with a document christened Oyo State Roadmap for Accelerated Development 2019-2023. His presentation impressed the people of the state so much that they entrusted their future to him by casting their votes for him. When the people had a chance to either retain or reject him four years later, they considered the promises offered by him in the Oyo State Roadmap for Sustainable Development 2023-2025 and, again, cast their lot with him.
Six years after his assumption of office, how have the people of Oyo State fared under the Makinde administration. How will Oyo State residents answer the Reagan Question? Are the people better off than they were before they elected him or are they worse off? Is Oyo State better on Makinde’s watch than it was before his assumption of office?
Dr Muideen Babatunde Olatunji, the Executive Secretary of the Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, speaking in an interview, said before the advent of the current administration, “most of our medical facilities were an eye sore; nobody even wished to go there for medical care.”
He added, “When we started in 2019, we did a gap analysis to say ‘where are we, where are we supposed to be and what is the gap?’ In that gap analysis we did, we came up with a document that we called the Minimum Service Package Document. In that document, we were able to itemise areas of needs in the healthcare services of the state.”
Based on the identified gap, the Makinde administration resolved to strengthen the primary healthcare system to bring healthcare services as close to the people as possible. So, the government decided to upgrade or build Primary Healthcare Centre in each of the 351 wards in the state. Consequently, over 209 PHCs were upgraded during the governor’s first term. Currently, 106 PHCs across the 33 local government areas are being upgraded. In the same vein, 264 of the PHCs are being equipped.
Although there are three types of PHCs, Oyo State opted for the best which is Level 3, which can render comprehensive healthcare services. Level 3 PHCs have ancillary facilities such as accommodation for healthcare providers that need to be within that facility, a perimeter fence, potable water and electricity. To ensure constant power supply, the state government has not only connected the PHCs to the national grid, it has also installed solar panels in them while also supplying them with generating sets.
So effective has the delivery of healthcare to the people of Oyo State through the ‘one PHC per ward model’ been that the Federal Government has adopted it.
In the same vein, a number of secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities have been upgraded, equipped and staffed. These include Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, Yemetu, Ibadan; Ring Road State Hospital, Adeoyo, Ibadan; Jericho Nursing Home, Jericho, Ibadan; LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso; General Hospital, Aremo, Ibadan; General Hospital, Eruwa; General Hospital, Tede and Secretariat Staff Clinic, Agodi, Ibadan.
Similarly, the government has extended health insurance coverage to hundreds of thousands of Oyo State residents, including pensioners, students of tertiary institutions, primary and secondary school pupils as well as pregnant women through the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA). Under the health insurance scheme, the government pays the premium for 100,000 of the most vulnerable citizens. It also pays the premium for all pensioners.
The administration has equally provided free medical services to over 2million people in the state through the annual Omituntun Free Health Mission, which is taken to all the 33 local government areas in the state.
Consequent on the various interventions of the state government in the area of healthcare delivery, three local government areas in the state; Ogo Oluwa, Irepo and Ibarapa East have been declared free from Onchocerciasis (river blindness) and lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis). The state also won the award for the Best Neglected Tropical Disease State Coordinator in Nigeria.
So, for millions of Oyo State residents, who have enjoyed the services of the PHCs, the secondary and tertiary health institutions, the Omituntun Health Mission as well as about one million beneficiaries of the Oyo State health insurance scheme, their answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off today on Governor Makinde’s watch than we were six years ago.
In education, Makinde hit the ground running.
Making his first pronouncement shortly after taking the oath of office on May 29, 2019, the governor abrogated the payment of N3,000 fee per child, thus making education at both the primary and secondary school levels free in the state. That pronouncement has seen over 80,000 out-of-school children in the state return to school. Consequently, Oyo State which, according to a 2018 StatiSense report, had the highest number of out-of-school children in South West Nigeria has moved up the ladder of states with low out-of-school children rate in the country. With the cancellation of payment of fees in Oyo State public schools, 80,000 children, who might have grown up without any marketable skills and would probably have become political thugs, arsonists, bandits, armed robbers, kidnappers, pipeline vandals, drug traffickers, human traffickers and commercial sex workers have been rescued from a dreadful future; they can now look forward to a secure and prosperous future.
The governor followed this up with an upward review of the 2019 budgetary allocation to education from 3 per cent to 10 per cent even when the whole budget, which he had inherited from the previous administration, was reviewed downwards.
He then made a promise that he would endeavour to meet the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendation of voting between 15 and 20 per cent of the budget to education. Makinde has lived up to this promise by raising the budgetary provision for education to N47billion (22.3 per cent) in 2020, N56.3billion (21 per cent) in 2021, N54.1billion (18.37 per cent) in 2022, N58.2billion (18.78 per cent) in 2023, N90billion (21 per cent) in 2024 and N145.25 billion (about 21.44 per cent).
To improve education delivery at both the primary and secondary school levels in the state, the Seyi Makinde administration has completed over 400 projects, including the construction of model schools, the construction of classrooms with toilets, the renovation of classroom blocks, the installation of boreholes and the construction of perimeter fences in many schools. The government recently embarked on the upgrade of 100 schools across the state, 36 of which are currently ongoing. In collaboration with the World Bank-supported Better Education Service Delivery for All Additional Finance; Transforming Education Systems at States Level (BESDA AF-TESS) programme, the government has upgraded classroom blocks in 105 schools in rural communities to close the urban-rural education gap.
However, the governor’s focus has not been only on primary and secondary schools, as he has also improved the lot of all the tertiary institutions in the state. One of the major steps taken by Makinde to steady the shaky state-owned institutions was the payment of the inherited salary arrears.
He has also been supportive of Oyo State students in the Law School by providing them with N500,000 bursary awards since 2019. The government has also been giving bursaries to Oyo State students in medical schools, aviation schools and final year students of universities and HND across the country.
Similarly, the government has been awarding full scholarships to students from each of the 33 local government areas in the state to study at the Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, Ibadan. In the same vein, students across the 33 LGAs and 35 LCDAs have been awarded scholarships at the School of Nursing and Midwifery Eleyele, Ibadan.
Makinde has also demonstrated commitment to the improvement of facilities in state-owned tertiary institutions. In 2020, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, received N100 million for capital projects. This was followed up with the construction of a N458 million office complex for lecturers in 2021. The Oke Ogun Polytechnic was provided with a central laboratory complex, while the Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa got a 250-capacity lecture theatre.
In November 2020, the National Universities Commission (NUC) ceded the sole ownership of Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, to Oyo State Government. This followed a Memorandum of Understanding by Oyo and Osun State Governments to dissolve the joint ownership of the university, which was founded in 1991. That decision marked a turning point in the history of the university because after years of retarded growth, LAUTECH has come into its own and is now rated the best state university in the country.
Makinde decided to turn the university into a multi-campus institution and built from the scratch a College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources in Iseyin, Oke Ogun axis of the state.
In December 2022, he got the approval of the NUC for the conversion of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education to a university. Thus, Makinde has increased the number of Oyo State-owned universities, as he usually puts it, “from one and a half to three.”
So, the 80,000 rescued out-of-school children, the parents who have been relieved of the burden of paying school fees, thousands of students of Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, who were awarded scholarships, thousands of students of the School of Nursing and Midwifery who were awarded scholarships, staff of tertiary institutions whose arrears have been paid, thousands of Law School, medical school, aviation school and final year students who have enjoyed Oyo State bursaries as well as students and staff of LAUTECH who have been rescued from stagnation will be unanimous in their response to the Reagan Question that they are better off now than they were six years ago.
In 2019, before Makinde’s inauguration for his first tenure, there were great security concerns as a result of the crisis involving members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). But without much fuss, Governor Makinde quelled what could have become a conflagration by proscribing the NURTW in the state and setting up the Park Management System (PMS). That masterstroke achieved two things. First, it took the wind out of the sail of the warring members of the NURTW as there was no need to fight over what had ceased to exist. Two, it reverted control of the parks to the government and boosted its revenue generation. That novelty has since been adopted by a number of states in the South West geopolitical zone.
Also, a group of criminals, known as One Million Boys, terrorized Ibadan and environs over a period of time. But now, the gang is history.
Similarly, kidnappings, herders’ invasion, armed robbery attacks, bank robberies and other criminal activities were a norm in Oyo State before the advent of the current administration. But all of these have been reduced to the barest minimum by Makinde’s ingenuity.
Governor Makinde has been able to make Oyo State safer due to his pragmatic approach to leadership. He is ever willing to cooperate with and support federal security agencies to improve security in the state. Makinde’s collaboration with the Nigeria Police birthed the Police Mobile Force 72 Squadron in Ago Are, Atisbo Local Government area of the state. The Squadron has been vital to the peaceful atmosphere that exists in Oke Ogun zone of the state.
The governor’s collaboration with security agencies also culminated in the establishment of the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) Base in Ajia. The base has enhanced NAF’s readiness and responsiveness to security challenges in the state.
In addition to these, Makinde has, over the period of six years, donated over 500 patrol vehicles to security agencies in the state to ensure that all parts of the state are adequately monitored. Consequently, security operatives are able to effectively patrol the state.
Following the decision of South West governors to set up the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun, Makinde immediately set the machinery in motion to establish the network in the state. The Amotekun officers and men are well trained, well equipped, well remunerated and well motivated. Hence, they have played a critical role in securing the state.
Another factor engendering security in Oyo State is the Light-Up project. The project, which covers well over 250 kilometers across the state, keeps the streets aglow even at night. This has become a source of deterrence to criminally-minded people who can no longer hide under the cloak of darkness to give vent to their evil intentions.
For millions of Oyo State residents across the 33 local government areas who no longer have to worry about their safety, the answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off today than we were six years ago.
While speaking at the opening ceremony of the 157th meeting of the Joint Tax Board, comprising players in the tax sector at the state and national levels, held in Ibadan in May 2025, Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr. Zacch Adedeji, commended Governor Makinde for growing Oyo State’s revenue profile by 145.5 per cent since his assumption of office in 2019, adding that the state recorded an IGR performance of N65.28 billion in 2024, a figure, which he noted, reflected 23.7 per cent growth over the 2023 collection.
Adedeji said, “While significant milestones have been made in other sectors such as education, healthcare, transportation, housing, trade and investment etc, it is interesting to note that the government of Oyo State is also concerned with socioeconomic growth, especially at the grassroots.
“We wish to acknowledge the impact your administration is having on the IGR fortunes of the State. Oyo State is currently ranked among the top ten states in total revenue generated, with a 2024 IGR performance of N65.28 billion. This figure reflects a growth of 23.78 per cent over the 2023 collection.”
Putting the revenue generation strides of the state in proper perspective, Mr Femi Awakan, Executive Chairman of Oyo State Internal Revenue Service, also speaking at the 157th meeting of the Joint Tax Board, said that through consistent and conscientious handling of tax matters in the state, Oyo State IGR increased from an average of N1.6 billion monthly in 2019 to an average of N8.5 billion monthly in the first quarter of 2025 and that using the 2021 annual revenue as a benchmark, it equally recorded a 58 per cent increase as of 31 December 2024.
The major secret to the leap recorded in the state’s revenue generation is the improvement in infrastructure. Right from the outset of his administration, Makinde has been gung ho about improving the infrastructure, especially roads, because of his belief that “where roads go, development follows.”
He has been able to connect all the zones in the state with good road networks. Through the Moniya-Iseyin road, Ibadan zone has been connected to the Oke-Ogun zone; through the Oyo-Iseyin road, Oyo zone has been linked to Oke-Ogun zone; through the Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso road, Ogbomoso zone is linked to Oke-Ogun zone; and through the ongoing Ido-Eruwa road, Ibadan zone is linked to Ibarapa zone. The administration is currently fixing the Iseyin-Saki road, a federal government road, with a view to alleviating the problem encountered by commuters of the road.
Beyond the ease of movement which the road networks guarantee, by connecting all the zones in the state, Makinde has deliberately unleashed the economic potential of each of the zones and has set the state on the path of long-lasting economic growth. Before connecting the zones, the bulk of Oyo State’s revenue was from Ibadan zone. But with the linkage, all the zones are positioned to contribute to the state coffers.
With the near completion of inter-zone connectivity, the governor moved to the intra-city roads. In Ibadan, the state capital, the Seyi Makinde administration has over 100 kilometres of completed and ongoing feeder road projects in Ibadan Zone. According to the governor, Oyo and Ogbomoso zones are the next in line for intra-city road construction.
Construction of the Rasidi Ladoja Circular Road is ongoing with the hope that it will reach 70 per cent completion before the expiration of the governor’s tenure. Altogether, the administration has completed almost 500kilometres of roads.
In the same vein, the upgrade of the Ladoke Akintola Airport to international standard is ongoing. The airport will be fully ready by the third quarter of 2026.
As a consequence of the various infrastructure interventions of the state government, the number of enterprises within the state has grown to 1,872,941 with the bulk of them in the capital city. This is one of the reasons a United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) research ranked Ibadan as the second fastest growing city in Africa, citing industrialisation, urbanisation and economic activities as reasons for the growth.
Another leg of the state’s economic expansion is agribusiness.
Oyo State Agriculture Development Programme (OYSADEP), which came on stream in 1989, was established to boost the state agricultural production by strengthening agricultural services through unified extension services and On Farm Adaptive Research (OFAR) as well as intensifying the provision of inputs and capacity of Cooperative Financing Agencies (CFAs) for rural savings and mobilization. Thus, the focus of OYSADEP was the smallholder farmer. The programme did well to support smallholder farmers by providing extension services for them. The impact of this reflected in their output. However, the OYSADEP intervention did not result in the optimization of agriculture as the business side was largely ignored. To correct this, shortly after his assumption of office, Makinde came up with the idea of leveraging agribusiness to improve the fortunes of the state. Therefore, the government rested OYSADEP but migrated its agricultural extension functions to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The government then inaugurated the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) to create an enabling environment for agribusinesses to thrive by supporting infrastructure development and policy formulation. The agency is also to develop agricultural hubs which would be homes to all elements of the agri-food value chain with a view to driving industrialization and growing the economy.
That tweak in agricultural policy has attracted development funds of over $180 million into the state. In addition, over N50 billion worth of investments came into the state as a result of the policy shift. Similarly, since the policy redirection, new companies such as Psaltery, the first company of its kind in Africa, which processes cassava products into sorbitol; Rontol Farms in Ilora, which also processes cassava and the Oyo Sugarcane Processors Ltd, among others, have sprouted in the state. In the same vein, Niji Farms, which runs one of the largest agricultural fabrication centres in the South West, has moved its operations from Lagos to Oyo State. Fasola Farm Estate, which had been reduced to a jungle pre-1999, has been transformed into an industrial hub, which houses 14 leading operators in the agricultural sector.
The governor’s decision to push agribusiness has paid off with the African Development Bank (AfDB) designating the Hub as the first Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Nigeria.
To avail other zones of the state of the benefits of agribusiness, Oyo State Government is working on the upgrade of the 3,250 hectares Eruwa Farm Settlement to an Agribusiness Industrial Hub. Similarly, the government is working on establishing a Rungis-style Farmers’ Wholesale Market in Ijaiye Farm Settlement to create a ready market for wholesale agricultural produce from the state.
In addition to unleashing the state’s potentiality for revenue generation through agribusiness, Makinde has also empowered smallholder farmers to increase food production and ensure food security in the state. The Makinde administration came up with the tractorisation subsidy policy, through which the state government defrays 50 percent of the cost of hiring tractors to clear farmlands for farmers. This automatically reduces farmers’ cost of doing business.
To improve farmers’ output, the government also recently launched a comprehensive digital soil testing initiative across 100 communities in the state. The scheme is designed to provide farmers with precise soil data, which will enable them to maximize their farming practices and increase productivity.
Oyo State Government has similarly provided agricultural inputs to farmers across the state. Over 10,000 farmers from all the 33 Local Government Areas in the state have benefited from agricultural input distribution carried out in four phases with each of them receiving 40 bundles of cassava stems and 16kg of improved Premiere maize seeds. These are special inputs that guarantee maximum yields. Each of the farmers also got one knapsack sprayer, 20gm Atrazine, one bottle of Zeetact herbicide as well as 16gm of Emmamectin and one liter of Kombat Insecticide to protect their crops against invasion of destructive insects.
To ensure that nothing hinders the productivity of the farmers, Oyo State Government also provided 21,000 bags of fertilisers to 10,500 farmers.
To ensure farmers’ liquidity, the state government, as part of the Sustainable Actions for Economic Recovery (SAfER), supported over 3,000 farmers with a sum of N1billion as agric credit loan through the Oyo State Agricultural Credit Corporation. Qualified farmers had access to between N250,000 and N1 million based on the size of their farms to improve their farming enterprise.
As the government is supporting crop farmers, so does it also support non-crop farmers. A total of 2,660 poultry farmers across the state have each been given eight bags of 50kg of maize grain, a total of 1,000 fish farmers across the state were each given three bags of fish feeds, no fewer than 1,008 swine farmers across the state have benefited from the free distribution of 100kg bags of palm-kernel cakes and two jars of Agrichlor disinfectants each all of which have enhanced their capacity and boosted their productivity.
There has also been a statewide free vaccination of 250,000 sheep/goats and 120,000 cattle with application of anthrax and CBPP vaccines respectively.
Oyo State has also been deploying solid minerals as an economic pillar. This is sequel to the promise made by Makinde during the 2023 electioneering to use solid minerals and tourism to expand the economy. The state is endowed with many solid minerals such as lithium, gold, marble, gemstones, iron ore, tantalite, kaolin and talc. With the large deposits of these minerals as well as their high quality, the state stands a chance of grossing a tidy sum annually from them.
On October 24, 2023, Makinde signed an Executive Order to create a structure for the solid mineral sector with a view to taking care of the interests of all stakeholders, especially the host communities and the environment. With the structure in place, the state has been attracting serious-minded investors in that sector.
Similarly, the state has been relying on tourism to widen the economy. To turn the state’s cultural heritage and tourist attractions into revenue-generating entities, Makinde, on October 24, 2023, signed an executive order to create the Ministry of Culture and Tourism following the excising of same from the Ministry of Information. The whole essence of the executive order is to empower the new Ministry of Culture and Tourism to institute a structure and facilitate the development of the infrastructure that would boost tourism in the state.
Oyo is the home of culture and the habitation of some jaw-dropping wonders of the world. But these had hitherto not really contributed much to the economic development of the state. However, with the decision of Governor Makinde to make tourism an economic pillar, the tide is beginning to change. Already, investors are showing interest in some of the state’s heritages. In December 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) inscribed Sango Festival, which brings all Yoruba sons and daughters at home and in the Diaspora together in Oyo Town, on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, putting it on the same pedestal as the Rio Carnival. Now, plans are underway to upgrade Agodi Botanical Garden, Eleyele Waterfront and the Iyake Suspended Lake to international standard. Not only will all of these push up the state’s tourism revenue, they will also create business and employment opportunities for thousands of Oyo State residents.
As a result of the government’s efforts at promoting tourism, the number of registered hospitality ventures comprising hotels, night clubs, event centers, eateries/restaurants and tour operators rose from 1,328 in December 2019 to 12,128 in 2025.
So, for thousands of new business owners in the state, for thousands of business owners whose enterprises have grown because of the policies put in place by the Makinde administration, for the thousands of Oyo State residents employed by private business owners in the state, for thousands of farmers who have benefitted from the various interventions of the Makinde-led administration, the answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off now than we have ever been.
Oyo State Government under the leadership of Seyi Makinde has employed the highest number of workers in the history of the state.
In his first term, he employed 5,000 secondary school teachers in one fell swoop. However, if Governor Makinde was zealous about job creation in his first term, he has taken it a notch higher in his second term. In a spate of 180 days, Makinde gave approval for the recruitment of about 30,000 personnel to various ministries, agencies and departments of Oyo State Government.
It started in July 2024 with the recruitment of 500 officers and men for the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority (OYRTMA). This was followed with the recruitment of 561 Amotekun operatives. Then the state government, through the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, employed 5,600 primary school teachers and 80 caregivers to shore up the personnel requirement of primary schools in the state. The governor also approved the recruitment of 7,500 teachers as well as 3,000 non-teaching staff for secondary schools in the state.
The state government later set in motion the process of employing about 3,933 workers for the state’s Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs). In addition to the PHC workers, the state government has also employed 12 consultants, 28 doctors, eight pharmacists, six physiotherapists, 170 nurses, three pharmacist technicians, eight medical laboratory scientists and 80 other health workers. The state also recruited 791 people to fill the vacant positions in the mainstream civil service. The governor similarly approved the conversion of local government ad-hoc staff to permanent staff.
So, for the over 35,000 recently persons employed by the state government, the answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off now than we were six years ago. Ditto for civil servants who have had their salaries paid promptly, their leave bonuses paid on time and their promotions effected without delay.
The Makinde administration has not left out pensioners from its distribution of dividends of democracy.
On February 13, 2025, pensioners from all the geopolitical zones of Oyo State thronged the Governor's Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, in their hundreds to express their appreciation to the state governor for turning around their fortunes through the review of pensions in the state.
The pensioners, under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Oyo State Council, stated that the review had made Oyo State pensioners the highest paid state pensioners in the federation. They also thanked the governor for the approval of N25,000 as minimum pension to the least paid pensioner, the factoring of 33 per cent pension increase of 2010, the consequential adjustment of 2019, 20 per cent of pension increase and part of N32,000 minimum wage across board for Oyo State pensioners.
For the almost 100,000 pensioners in Oyo State, the answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off now than we were six years ago.
Despite Makinde’s zealousness and single-mindedness about developing Oyo State, one thing that has stood out his administration is compassion and his knack for placing people above projects.
When work was about to start on a section of the Rasidi Ladoja Circular Road, and some houses were marked for demolition, affected property owners cried out to the government for mercy. The governor directed the ministry in charge to stay action on the demolition, adding that the existing houses along the corridor would be integrated into the Circular Road corridor, rather than be demolished.
Makinde, who gave the directive while addressing property owners at the Oyo State Government Secretariat, explained that his administration had not acquired any land on the corridor, stating that while the former Governors Lam Adesina and Rasidi Ladoja set the 150-metre mark, the administration of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi acquired and gazetted additional 350metres.
The state government’s junction improvement project at Agodi Gate affected many street traders as the area where they had illegally assembled to ply their trade over the years was taken over by the government. The government built a market and a park at the place. While commissioning the projects, Governor Seyi Makinde announced that the 700 stalls would be given out to street traders free of charge. The only thing he demanded of them was that the place be kept clean.
When on January 16, 2024, an explosion at Dejo Oyelese Close at Bodija, Ibadan, resulted in the death of five people, the injury of many and the destruction of 77 buildings and other things, Governor Makinde rose to the occasion. The governor visited the place that night, condoled with the affected people as well as other residents and directed that the medical bills of the injured be undertaken by the state, while also providing temporary accommodation for those whose buildings were destroyed. The governor also approved the disbursement of N4.8bn to the victims of the mishap.
So, for thousands of people who have been given a new lease of life or have been helped out of difficult situations by the Makinde administration, their answer to the Reagan Question is: We are better off today than we were six years ago.
For the majority of Oyo State residents, Makinde is a leader who has made democracy worth the while of the people. He is seen as a leader who uses the power vested in him, not against the people but for the benefit of the people, a leader who is determined to leave the people and the state better than he met both. Hence, the bond between Makinde and the people keeps getting stronger because on a daily basis, more people see reasons to support the governor’s developmental strides.
Dr Olanrewaju is the Chief Press Secretary to Oyo State Governor.
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