‘In Oyo, people now sleep with their two eyes closed’

[MrVan]

BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

When the Oyo State administration headed by Senator Is'haq Adeyemi Abiola Ajimobi came on board, the governor promised quality service delivery. Almost one and a half years on, his Commissioner for Information, Mr. Bosun Oladele, says the promise has been fulfilled.  Oladele also speaks on how quality development has permeated the zones of the Pace Setter State.

When your government came into office, it promised quality service delivery.  To what extent would you say that has been fulfilled?

If you want to talk about quality service, you first look at places where people are feeling it and where it could be most felt in terms of infrastructural development. The state government, since inception, has done well over 190 roads and, if you look at the number of those awarded, we may be talking of  260.

And if you look at the past administrations, you wouldn't take that as the benchmark  because that benchmark was below zero. If you look at that, they did most roads just as they were about to exit and the roads became bad after 60 or 90 days in some instances because of the shoddy, rushed jobs done.

Now, what we have come up with is to ensure that there is proper and adequate drainage system because that's the only thing that will ensure that the roads stand firm on the ground. And you know because of the weather here, what we have done is to ensure that our drainages are well constructed with stones and concrete. Two, the asphalts on the roads are not just the peripheral type that was the order of the day in recent past. These are solidly asphalted roads that will stand the test of time.

And you can see that for the first time, a civilian administration in Oyo State is constructing a flyover; the one in Mokola at a modest cost of N2.2 billion. Put that side by side with similar jobs in other states and you will discover that we are getting the best quality and for the price to beat.

The other thing is that, recently, the state government awarded the contracts for the dualization of the entrance into Ibadan and most of the major towns in Oyo State. This is also part of the infrastructural development agenda because that is one of the policy thrusts of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration that development should permeate the zones.

Also beautification of the environment is ongoing. The beautification is not just make believe, we were all living witnesses when an administration in the past attempted to plant palm trees at the median of the express road from the toll gate to Iwo Road. The plan failed because there was no planning. And you can see that within the short time that we commenced our beautification programme, it is already changing the landscape of the state totally and the state is getting neater.

I will tell you that right now, our governor is being referred to as Mr. Quality. Yes, and it is a sign of the acceptability that some of his programmes have been able to establish with the people.

The education standard, going by WAEC rating, has dropped drastically in this state.  What has your government done to up this standard knowing fully well that education formed the bedrock of the pride that any South West state enjoys anywhere in Nigeria today?

We were number 34 when this administration was coming in and, if you juxtapose that with the position we were during the time of Alhaji Lam Adesina, which was number three, you can now begin to see, within a decade or so, the kind of rot that had set in. And you know it's so easy to destroy, but it is never that easy to build. Because of that, the state government has  organized extra-coaching classes for students. We have also institutionalized the writing of mock so that our students will be in the right frame of mind to write WAEC and sit for NECO. And the arrangement has been yielding results. Right now, the schools are being renovated; we started with 235 schools across the state. And if you look at that, that is key to ensuring a conducive teaching and learning environment.

Teachers no longer get paid three months in arrears. They now get their money before the end of the month. They are also being trained because it is also part of the package to encourage them to get committed to their jobs. And that is also rubbing off on the students because they are getting better by the day.

Above all, what is your performance like in term of security?

Oyo State is no longer what it used to be in terms of security challenges. We now have peace and it's been a wonderful experience. For the first time we have all these seasonal festivities with no incidence of violent robbery and all the rest. And it shows that we can also live in peace in the state. People can now sleep with their two eyes closed. Gone were those days when people would brandish cutlasses all over the place. People now believe that there is a government in place that is responsible and responsive. We have our Operation Burst in place, which is a joint patrol team of the military and the police. Just recently the state government also launched a security trust fund and corporate bodies also have been able to support because they can now see; it's something that could be felt physically. It's not a mirage. People can feel there is security.

How has the government been able to seize the secured environment as opportunity for investments attraction?

Of course the absence of security is absence of investment and lack of interest from the side of development partners. But since the government came in and security has been entrenched, they have discovered that Oyo State is back on the radar. Before now, we were lost on the radar. They didn't want to listen to us because the quality of presentations coming from this place was nothing to write home about. But right now, the quality of presentations is so excellent that the IMF, the World Bank, all the world bodies development partners want to listen when we talk.

Vanguard Nigeria

[Nifemi Donald]

that is gud news for its indigenes