Residents of Ekiti State have applauded Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, for his intervention programmes across sectors and infrastructural projects, which they say have improved lives and transformed the state.
Residents, including traditional rulers, persons with disabilities, road users, farmers, students and health workers, spoke in various locations during a three-day tour of Oyebanji’s projects.
A traditional ruler, the Onisin of Isinbode Ekiti, Oba Akinyemi Adesoji, who spoke in his domain on Tuesday, hailed the governor for giant strides in infrastructures, social investment, healthcare, agriculture, and education, noting that the present administration’s projects had far-reaching positive impacts on people’s lives.
Projects visited during the tour included the Igbemo – Ikole Road, Ikole – Isinbode Road, Ado Ekiti Ring Road, Ekiti Cargo Airport, Skill Acquisition Centre for Persons With Disabilities, the Broiler Hub Technical Centre, the ongoing Okeyinmi-Ijigbo flyover bridge and the ongoing 80-bed hospital complex located inside the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital.
Oba Adesoji said that the newly reconstructed Ikole-Isinbode Road had lifted his community, made transportation of persons and goods comfortable and also boosted the production of farm produce and the economies of farmers.
He said, “The parlous state of the road was indescribable before Governor Oyebanji intervened and reconstructed it. Before now, travelling from Isinbode to Ikole was torturous and the accompanying high fares. Farmers found it difficult to move their produce and were thus compelled to dispose of it at low prices. But this reconstruction has changed all that.”
The monarch, who also appreciated the governor for the newly rehabilitated and equipped comprehensive health centre in the community, which he described as a lifesaver, sought support for the governor’s second term bid for the sustenance of development in all parts of the state.
Also, Folasade Ademola, who spoke during a visit to the Skill Acquisition Centre for PWDs, praised the governor for initiatives to stop the PWDs from living on charity due to unemployment.
Ademola said, “The governor said he doesn’t want PWDs to be seen as beggars, whereby they only just give us rice, give us beans, give us wheat. After the food, what would we fall back on? He said we must be taught how to catch fish.
“That’s the essence of this centre. In the last two years, we’ve trained 130 PWDs in five vocational trades like tailoring, catering and hotel management, shoe making, hairdressing, and cosmetology.
“And while we are training here, the government of Governor Biodun Oyebanji is paying us a stipend every month, more or less like a salary, a N25,000 stipend for coming for training.
“So, we really want to thank the governor for this initiative and to assure him of the support of the persons with disabilities towards achieving his goal of coming back for a second term in office.”
A student, Abimbola Oyebade, said that the Ado Ekiti Ring Road, apart from leading to the Ekiti Agro-Allied International Cargo Airport, linked various tertiary institutions in the state, thus serving the interest of students as well in the area of easing transport stress.
Oyebade said, “It is a virgin road, no road was here before. Residents of this area, including students, formerly faced a lot to link Iworoko or Ado Ekiti for studies and other daily transactions. We appreciate this major intervention.”
A farmer at Igbemo Ekiti, Adeyemi Olaniyan, said that the reconstruction of the 19.8km Igbemo-Isaba-Ikoyi-Ikole Road, which had been abandoned for a long time, had been of great benefit to farmers and they now access their farms and move their produce with ease.
Olaniyan, who expressed the resolve of farmers to support Oyebanji’s re-election bid, however, called on the state government to establish cottage industries in the community to serve the interest of farmers’ produce and as well as an employment generator for the youth in the area.
A commercial vehicle operator, Ayodele Olumide, who said that the rehabilitation of the network of intra-state roads had reduced travelling hours by motorists, urged Ekiti people to repay the governor with votes so that he could continue his good work.
Olumide disagreed with those accusing the governor of underperformance, saying, “This thing is visible. We know how the state was years back and we can see how it is today. The state has witnessed transformation through the implementation of people-centric policies and execution of tangible and developmental projects across the state.”
Other projects visited during the tour included the Omisanjana-Ben Folarin-Aso Road, BOVAS-Spotless Road, the Iropora – Ijero Road, the Okemesi-Ido Ile Road, the Ajebamidele-Omisanjana Road, Ikere-Igbara Odo Road, Ido-Ipere Road, the Ise-Agbado Road, Igbemo Ikole Road, the Ikole-Isinbode Road and the newly revamped general hospitals in Ilupeju, Ayede, Iye, Ifaki, and Okemesi Ekiti.
Recall that Oyebanji, who has spent three and a half years in office as governor, is the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate for the June 20 Ekiti election, whereby he is seeking reelection.
Credit: punchng.com
