DAPO ABIODUN’S SEVEN MONTHS OF GIANT STRIDES; A RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENTS

ABEOKUTA: It is now popular opinion across Ogun State and its environs that the Governor Abiodun-led State Government has performed clearly remarkably since the administration came on board just seven months ago.

What is most remarkable is not that the administration has performed, but that it has performed significantly across all sectors, including but not limited to Education, Health, Ease of doing Business and Social Intervention, Employment, Agriculture, Security, and Infrastructure.
In this light and for ease of reference, the following paragraphs highlight a few of these achievements. Enjoy.

Education.
1.​ Governor Abiodun has ensured that the promised rehabilitation of 236 primary schools and primary healthcare centres across the State has commenced. This is just the first stage of a more sophisticated plan to revitalise the education sector.

2.​ He has also intervened in, thereby ultimately resolving the impasse needlessly started by the immediate past administration to disrupt activities in the long-existing Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY). It is no longer news that the school has matriculated a good number of students, restoring normal academic activities across programmes and departments.

3.​ This intervention in the education sector is not selective, as the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Omu-Ijebu which was left to rot by the immediate past administration, has also breathed air of relief. In fact, earlier this month, the College of Education for which the Governor had earlier constituted a Governing Council, held its first combined convocation ceremony.

4.​ Within months, Governor Abiodun approved the release of the long overdue 2016/2017 promotion letters to teachers in the State primary and secondary schools.

Health.
5.​ Governor Abiodun has ensured that the Ilaro General Hospital, which was left in a terrible state, received a facelift, while also ensuring that all needed medical equipment have been delivered to the hospital and the State Hospital in Ijaiye, Abeokuta.

6.​ Governor Abiodun also ordered the immediate recruitment of staff in all cadres to fill vacancies in the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu. The Governor gave specific instructions that due process be followed in the recruitment exercise, with the first being a publication of vacancies in national dailies.

Ease of Doing Business and Social Intervention.

7.​ The Governor, who has always emphasised the importance of the wellbeing of the people of the State, has empowered numerous market women through the recently launched Oko’wo Dapo loan programme with interest-free loans. A similar gesture was extended to widows as well.

8.​ To further improve the State’s Ease of Doing Business, Governor Abiodun has also signed Executive Orders establishing three councils and agencies including the Ogun State Investment Agency. Also, the Governor forwarded the Ogun State PPP bill to the State House of Assembly which has now passed it into law.

Employment.
9.​ In addition to the opportunities made available through the staff recruitment in the OOUTH as ordered by the Governor, numberless opportunities are made open on the Ogun Jobs Portal. This platform provides the government with a better understanding of the unemployment and underemployment rate in the State and also serves as a better tool for combating this challenge in a more refined and organised manner.

10.​ Within the short time it has been in operation, the Ogun Jobs Portal has advanced the recruitment of 1,500 teachers into State schools to its second stage. This is no wild imagination, as applicants themselves handle their own applications and get feedback accordingly. This practical and direct accessibility in no time shut cynics who had earlier claimed that the Portal was a mere political gimmick.

Agriculture.
11.​ Just as the Jobs Portal has served its purpose in providing employment, it has equally contributed to the development of the State agriculture sector, as Governor Abiodun has ensured that so far, 10,000 outgrowers under the CBN’s Anchor Borrowers Programme, were drawn from it. Consequently, Ogun State has been adopted as a model state having allocated land to about 10,000 outgrowers who were unemployed there by turning them into agri-preneurs by matching them with Anchors (offtakers) that signed a forward offtake contract.

Security.
12. Understanding the importance of a secured society, the Governor has made provision of 100 patrol vehicles and 200 motorbikes to help improve the performance of all security agencies within the State. Governor Abiodun made the official donation when he marked his 100 days in office, and they were gladly received by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Adamu for all the security agencies in Ogun State.

Infrastructure.
13.​ Within seven months of Governor Abiodun’s administration, there has been for instance, a heavy presence of the Ogun Public Works Agency (OGPWA) across the State. Very soon, the Ogun State Government shall be commissioning two roads in Otta – Raypower and Joju-Ikola Roads – linking Ogun State to Lagos, to provide the much needed alternative for commuters and transporters.

14.​ Hitherto, the OGPWA had reconstructed roads across the State including, but not limited to Molipa-Fusigboye-Ojofa Road in the Ijebu axis; Elite-Oke Lantoro-Isale Ake Road in Abeokuta; Ikoritameje-Adenrele-Olose Titun Vespa Road in Ifo; ; State Hospital Road in Ilaro; and Baruwa and Hospital Roads in the Remo axis.

15. Citizens and residents in Ijebu-Ode are also witness to the renovation of the stadium in the city. This comes alongside the seamless partnership which yielded the marathon race that was held in Abeokuta, the State Capital.

16.​ It is noteworthy to mention the people-oriented conversion of an abandoned “Model School” into a useful ICT hub, and just recently, in it was in this line that the State Government was given an award by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy during the E-NIGERIA awards in Abuja.

As an indication that these are just the beginning of more achievements, Governor Abiodun on Friday, December 27 expressed hope that the State House of Assembly would pass the Year 2020 Budget aptly titled: “Budget to Build our Future Together” before this year runs out. According to him, this would help the Government hit the ground running as the New Year begins with more people-oriented projects in the offing, as captured in the Budget and as these so far itemised herein indicate.