Oyo state Governor Engineer ‘Seyi Makinde has said that efforts have been put in motion to embark on construction of inner roads in Ibadan
There were complains from some quarters about the deplorable condition of inner roads across Ibadan
Makinde in a newsletter on Thursday said ” Let me mention that having set everything in motion to interconnect all zones, including embarking on the construction of the Ibadan Circular Road, we can now give more attention to Ibadan. We will be reconstructing some inner roads in Ibadan instead of just taking palliative measures. We have already advertised for bids from contractors for these projects. This costs us more in the short term but will lead to long-term cost savings and benefits”
Responding to critics on his style of governance, Governor Makinde said
“I have often been accused of running a populist government. My response is that if by populist, they mean commonsensical, driven by data, science and logic, then they may be right. However, a populist politician would pander to the populace and take palliative measures to look good. This is a course I have never taken. I chose the path less travelled.”
“When we came into office in 2019, we could have put all our resources into rehabilitating roads in Ibadan. That would have been a populist action. Ibadan has 11 local government areas and the majority of the voting population in the State. But, in choosing the path less travelled, we focused on the bigger picture. We reconstructed the 65 km Moniya-Ijaiye-Iseyin Road, knowing that linking Ibadan to Oke-Ogun would attract big businesses.”
“We pushed the envelope further by prioritising opening all other zones to investment instead of limiting investments to Ibadan alone.”
