Makinde Launches Oyo State’s 20-Year Developmental Plan, Inaugurates 27-man Steering Committee To ensure Implementation

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Gov Seyi Makinde
Gov Seyi Makinde

The Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, on Friday, launched the State’s 20-year Developmental Plan, declaring that his administration took this holistic approach in to order to address developmental challenges, and enhance prompt delivering of the government’s plans and agenda for the development of the State.

Governor Makinde who earlier disclosed that the State has no Developmental Plan to work with, had promised that his administration will develop an achievable developmental plan that would include all sectors.

He hinted that the plan is a long-term project that need quick acceleration and actualization. He said “is a long-term plan that looks beyond our administration, which is why it is tagged: ‘Oyo State Development Plan (2021 -2040).”

The governor who also inaugurated a 27-man Steering Committee for Oyo State Development Plan (2021-2040), at the Executive Chamber, State Secretariat, Agodi noted that the job of the committee is ensure the Implementation of all the strategic plans and ideas gathered for the actualization of desired results.

He added that a medium-term sectoral strategic plan 2021-2025 has also been incorporated in the plan, saying: “But one question people may be asking is why now? This administration is one year and five months old, even though I have heard people say it is two years now. If we are just creating a plan now, then, what have we been working with? Well, we have been working with the roadmap to accelerated development 2019-2023.

“This is a document that we developed during my electioneering period.

“We have health, education, agriculture, physical infrastructure and security. Those were very simple and straight forward pillars.”

The governor also reposed confidence on the committee, noting that it comprises of professionals who will be diligent in discharging their duty of transforming the State.

“If we look at the presentation, the central working committee, and the 28 technical working groups, it is over 300 seasoned professionals and bureaucrats; both state and non-state actors.

“Also, we have 30 technical resource persons, 25 professors and five associate professors to serve as experts to the technical working committee. We have seven independent reviewers and I believe by the time we are done with this, we will all be proud of this work,” he said.

“So, the job of this steering committee is to ensure that the strategies and ideas contained therein are fully implemented to achieve the desired result. We will be taking a holistic approach to the development of our dear state, leaving no sector behind.

“So far, an independent report on the health of the Oyo State economy reveals that we are not doing badly at all. The last statistics released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics shows that in the 2nd Quarter 2020, our IGR grew by over 20 per cent. This happened at a time when other economies were either stagnant or regressive. So, this means that we are doing things right.

“When I was campaigning, people thought I was talking over the head of the populace then because I said we may take decisions that will be economically delicious but are those decisions economically nutritious?

“Yes, you can go out and eat something delicious but is it good for your health? When we came in, the first project that we flagged off was Moniya-Iseyin road. We do know that if we are serious about expanding our economy through agriculture, the Oke-Ogun axis is the place to be. For our economy to expand, we have to get our agriculture to target our economy and that is what we have been doing.

“Also, there are road projects all over the place. I saw sports development because we need to capture the heart and minds of our youths so that they can be productive. We need to seek talents from all over the place. A lot of work is ongoing at the Lekan Salami Stadium and we believe that those are things that, within the shortest possible time, will bring nutrition to the blood-stream of Oyo State economy.

“The moribund businesses, before we came in, the Asphalt plant and Quarry at Ijaiye, was shut down for eleven years. But now, they have pressure on them because their production is not even enough to satisfy our local requirements.

“So, we are attracting more investments both locally and internationally and, in the next few months, when a lot of our ongoing projects are completed, we will see an Oyo State wearing a completely new face of economic development.”

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