He equally supported members of Ido Farmers Cooperative Society with N7.5 million as a take-off grant for the factory, which can process a trailer load of cassava into garri on a daily basis.

According to Makinde, “we know that it was the sage, Pa Obafemi Awolowo, that initiated the operation of this factory. He was the real architect of Western Nigeria, who put us in a more advantaged position over several regions that time, and we are toeing the same path in Oyo State.

“So, when members of the farmers cooperative society came to meet me, I told them we will put the factory back on track and, to the glory of God, it has happened. I told the local engineer handling the project to understudy it and if he can successfully fix the factory and make it work effectively, the work he will do next will be the brick factory at Erunmu.

“So, he has got another job for himself automatically as a result of what he has done here,” he said.

He maintained that as part of his administration’s commitment to fixing infrastructure that target the economic expansion drive of the state, the government has included the Eruwa road in the RAAMP projects.

“I want to inform everyone here today that the road from Eruwa to this point has been captured in our RAAMP programme. We will fix it. I also want to tell the Kabiyesi and Baales that the contractor fixing the road from Apete to Awotan to Akufo will, by the time he gets to Akufo, turn his equipment to the right and fix the road linking Moniya. And if he turns to the left side, he will fix the Akufo road to link the Eruwa road here.

“So, I want to assure you that the government of Oyo State will continue to resuscitate all moribund projects to create value for our people. The money you requested for, which will enhance your productivity in this factory, will be given to you because we don’t want the work to stop. We will give you N7.5 million to commence the work. We will give you the cheque here now,” he added.

Speaking at the event, Commissioner for Trade, Industry, Investment and Cooperatives, Adeniyi Adebisi, appreciated Makinde’s support and policy thrust, which, according to him, “is aimed at rejuvenating the economy of the state using agriculture as a tool.”

In his address, the chairman of Ido/Ibadan Cooperatives Farming and Produce Marketing Society Limited, Elder Lasun Dairo, said “Papa Awolowo established this factory in 1972 after he left Gowon’s government with 132 farming members, 44 from Ido, 44 from Akufo and 44 from Omi Adio.

“He (Awolowo) appointed five management members, making a total of 137 members. The factory died in 1998 due to bad management.”

The Onido of Ido, Oba Muritala Gbolagade, commended Makinde for resuscitating the factory, just as he implored the people of the state to support his administration in bringing more developments to the state. Chairman of Ido Local Government, Sheriff Aderemi Adeojo, said the governor’s decision to rejuvenate the factory will go a long way in reducing unemployment and enhancing food security.

Executive Director, Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Ambassador (Dr) Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, was represented at the event by the Editor, Saturday Tribune, Dr Lasisi Olagunju; Group Business Editor, Nigerian Tribune, Mr Sulaiman Olanrewaju; Manager, Internal Audit, African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Mr Peculiar Adegbite and the Head, Human Resources, ANN Plc, Mrs Bukola Ezeamaka.

Source: Nigerian Tribune

Accepting responsibility for the incident, Makinde said his administration had identified its failures and aspects of its security architecture that was not working.

While promising to fix lapses in the state’s security architecture, Makinde said he will henceforth be responsible for the effective operations of vigilante, local hunters and others providing security for Igangan.

He however enjoined Igangan residents not to take laws into their hands and demanded some more time to implement his plans regarding security across the state.

Makinde said: “I accept responsibility for not doing what I should do to allow what happened here. I beg you and I am here to say that this is the last time that such thing will happen here. When things get to a point where a mosquito perches on a delicate part of the body, we deal with it smartly.

“I have told your Chairman that the governor will be responsible for the vigilante and other local hunters providing security in the town.

“But I beg you to give us the opportunity to do what is right to ensure that this kind of convergence on security issues in Igangan won’t happen again. It will be a thing of the past. Don’t take the law into your hands.

“We have identified where there were failures and I want you to hold me accountable. I can’t run to Abuja because there are certain things we put in place in the state that should work but are not working.

“Please give me time and we will resolve it. As long as there is life, there is hope.”

Makinde made this disclosure during the inauguration of a model school building at the St. Paul’s Anglican Basic School, Okutapemo, Iseyin.

He said his administration is able to fix hundreds of projects in the education sector because it paid Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) counterpart funds of N1.51 billion for 2019 and 2020 which enabled the state to access requisite matching grants.

Describing the hundreds of schools projects as verifiable, Makinde challenged those doubting the number and location of the projects to come forward with contrary evidence.

While speaking at the Iseyin venue of the model school building, Makinde stated that the building is one of 26 such projects completed in the last one year across all zones of the state.

Relying on scientific thinking, data and logic, Makinde said the government has been able to reduce that infrastructure deficit in the education sector by building and renovating more schools and providing furniture materials and equipment.

He said: “When we looked at the data for education after we got into office two years ago, two things stood out. We had a huge number of out-of-school children. We had the highest number of out of school children in Southwestern Nigeria.

“Even those who were in school lacked proper facilities and a conducive learning environment.

“So, we had to come up with solutions that would address these challenges. One of the things we noticed immediately was that the number of out-of-school children was a symptom of a bigger problem: The problem of poor funding. So, one of the first things we did was to reverse the trend of poor budgetary allocation to education. “We revised the budget we met and increased allocation to education from about 3 per cent to 20 per cent.

“And when we made our own first budget, we allocated over 20 per cent to education, which surpassed the UNESCO-recommended 15-20 per cent. For the past two years, this has remained the standard. Education gets over 20 per cent of our budgetary allocations.

“A related problem was that basic education was suffering from poor infrastructure. The reason being that the funds for basic education are tied to a counterpart funding programme designed by the Federal Government. Any state that does not pay UBEC counterpart funds will not get UBEC matching grants and their development will suffer.

“We, therefore, paid counterpart funds of N1.51 billion for 2019 and 2020 to enable us to get the matching grants.

“So, when you hear that we completed over 300 hundred projects in education during our first year in office and this second year we have added another over 300 projects, you will understand we are not just throwing around figures. These are verifiable projects.”

After the Iseyin event, Makinde later inaugurated the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA) headquarters and also launched the Youths Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project (YEAP) training for youths at the OYSADA Complex, Saki.

Makinde said the government decided to rehabilitate the facilities at the defunct OYSADEP Complex and make it the headquarters of agribusiness in Oyo State because it was commonsensical to do, as the Oke-Ogun zone has been the food basket of Oyo State.

He stated that apart from the commissioning, the government was “also taking the opportunity to expand the Youths Entrepreneurship in Agribusiness Project initiative, which it piloted a while back.

At the OYSADA Complex, the Executive Adviser to the Governor on Agribusiness and the Director-General of OYSADA, Dr Debo Akande, said the YEAP training will develop selected beneficiaries in areas of Agribusiness enterprise development spread across the five regions of Oyo State.

Source: Nigerian Tribune