Former president Olusegun Obasanjo and the Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde on Friday commissioned the 34.85 Oyo- Fasola – Iseyin road project constructed by the state government.
The former president who expressed delight for the invitation to be part of the success story of the achievements of the state governor commended the efforts of the state government in the area of road infrastructure
Chief Obasanjo who spoke in Yoruba language advised the state government to look into other areas in agriculture apart from cassava for which the state currently ranks first in the country.
“Oyo state is already the first in cassava production because I know that and it is part of what I do, but it not only cassava we can produce in agriculture, adding that the state can as well engage in two more cash crops and livestock for which it can also be ranked first in the country.
“The state has ranked first in cassava production, if the governor meets with his advisers , they will decide on the cash crops and livestock to add that will rank the state as first.
“This will showcase the achievements of the governor and that the citizens of the state benefit from the dividends of democracy. Democracy is nothing if there is no job, democracy that nurtures poverty is abortion, democracy that nurtures unemployment is failure, democracy that nurtures lack of peace and security must be thrown overboard, democracy dividend must involve peace, security, stability, prosperity, wealth creation, employment and the wholesomeness of the society, that is when democracy will survive and people will feel that democracy is a worthwhile system of government that must be embraced “he said
Governor Makinde in his address at the occasion,b described the road project as one of the key projects that will open oyo and oke-ogun zones to further investments and economic stimulation.
He said the 34.85 Oyo Iseyin road has economic significance not just to the people of oyo and Iseyin but the entire state and region adding that the fact that it is a federal road, highlights its importance .
when our administration came in a little over four years ago ,we had clear plans for accelerated development in our dear state through improving our road infrastructure, we knew that if we were to compete favourably with other states in Nigeria and become key players in our West Africa sub-region we have to interconnect all the zones by road.
“We were able to quickly identify where our competitive advantage lies and come up with a strategy for addressing that advantage. Oyo is the biggest by land mass in the South West of Nigeria and we have arable land for agriculture , the question for us is how do we get the big players to come and site their investments in agri-bussiness on our land , the answer wasn’t difficult to get to , the answer is to open up the road for business.
“Yes we had have a choice between doing what previous government has done, I am from Ibadan, the choice is that we can concentrate efforts in Ibadan to repair inner roads which will be easily visible to the people in the capital, but we said no, we are not going to do that , we will rather let our infrastructural development go after our economy, we chose to take the path less traveled, people are shading me even up to this moment, that all the inner roads in Ibadan are bad , well I have news for you, we will start fixing the inner roads in a matter of weeks.
“We chose to take the path less traveled because we believe the five geopolitical zones in Oyo state must be connected for us to to be able to lift the entire state economically.
He stated that the 34.85 Oyo Iseyin road is of economic significance not just to the people of oyo and Iseyin but the entire state and region adding that the fact that it is a federal road, highlights its importance .