While taking his oath of office on Friday, February 24, 2017, Governor Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, gave the people of the state a message of “hope, clear agenda of prosperity and a vision of life abundant.”

And in marshalling his plans to ensure that his plan of abundant prosperity for the people succeeds, Akeredolu had set up a Strategic Development and Policy Implementation Committee, to set a tone for the new administration.

The committee, which was made up of seasoned technocrats, came up with a five-point agenda, aimed at: 1. Job creation through Agriculture, Entrepreneurship and Industrialization; 2. Massive Infrastructural development and maintenance; 3. Provision of functional Education and Technological growth; 4. Provision of Accessible and Qualitative Health care and social service delivery and 5. Rural Development and Community Extension services.

A little over two and half years after, Akeredolu has delivered on those promises, scoring high marks on the people’s score sheet. For a man who is determined to make a mark and leave the state better than he met it, nothing less was expected of him.

In his first year in office, Governor Akeredolu recorded unprecedented success in road construction. Taking into consideration the economic state of the state at the time, the number and roads constructed was nothing but magical.

The administration inherited a decayed and derelict infrastructure. The roads, even in the capital city, were pockmarked with craters and gullies. For the people, especially those of the northern and southern senatorial districts, the roads had become death traps.

From Ikare-Akoko to Oka-Akoko and to other areas in Ilaje and Ese-Odo local government areas, stories of multiple deaths caused by damaged portions of the roads became a daily feature of our lives. At the notorious Oke Oka and Oke Alabojuto roads in Oka and Ikare respectively, entire families have been wiped out multiple times.

But, in two years, the story has changed. Governor Akeredolu has done what many thought was impossible and there are new songs on the lips of the people. The mythical Oke Alabojuto hill in Ikare has given way to the bulldozers deployed by Akeredolu, leaving the people marvelling.

And in Owo, the ancient town has been further opened up for development with dual carriage ways, fitted with beautiful street lights. This transformation of the town has led to a coinage by the people: ‘Ogho ti segwa’, which translates into Owo is now beautiful.

In the central senatorial zone, Akure is gradually wearing a true status of a state capital. The major roads around the capital city are wearing new looks. Residents of the State Hospital Road, Oke Ogba, Iwalewa, Abusoro, Isarun, Idanre, Igbara-Oke and many other towns are hailing the governor for a good job, while the construction of new road networks in the Alagbaka area has continued to wow the people who now refer to the area as their own Banana Island.

Good things are happening in the southern senatorial district. The first ever overhead bridge in Ondo State is nearing completion in Ore. Aside from the aesthetics, the bridge is expected to put an end to the traffic problems travellers encounter at the Ore-Benin expressway intersection.

Months after the construction of the roads in Sabome and Ajagba has been completed, the people are still in wonderland. This was the opinion of Sunday Leji, a resident who said the people never believed anything good could come from the government to the people.

With no single senatorial zone left out of the major infrastructural boost blowing across the state, the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu administration has completed the construction of more than 50 roads and still counting.

The governor, from his first day in office, has maintained his unflinching interest in the welfare of public service workers. For him, the workers’ welfare is very strategic to the success of the government.

On assumption of office in February 2017, Akeredolu met a disturbing state of affairs. The workers were being owed a backlog of seven months salaries. The children were sent out of school because their parents could not pay their fees, and families separated because the man could not perform his responsibility of catering to the needs of his family.

The workers have moved on from a season when they looked to the future with little hope and their children were sent out of school because their parents could not pay their fees, to a new season of abundance and hope.

Akeredolu has kept to his vow, clearing six of the seven months’ salary backlogs. For the first time in a long while, the state workers have earned their salaries more than 24 months unbroken! The government has also paid the workers their leave allowance. Without doubt, these are feats some people said were impossible to achieve a little less than two years ago.

Within two and half years, the governor appointed about 44 permanent secretaries, righting the wrongs that have been done to many top civil servants by past administrations.

Today, the state is gradually changing the ignoble tag of a ‘civil service’ state to a state driven by industries and privately-oriented businesses. From less than N500, 000 every month, the Akeredolu administration has grown the state’s internally generated revenue to a little less than N2 billion every month.

It was, therefore, no mean feat when the Joint Tax Board (JTB), a body of all the tax authorities in Nigeria, declared Ondo State as the most improved state in internal revenue generation for 2018.To sustain the feat and continue to boost the state’s revenue generation drive, the state recently employed about 234 young graduates .

To ensure that the gains of the last two and half years are not reversed, the administration has embarked on a massive industrial revolution that is already changing the face of the state. On the last count, no fewer than five new industries have settled and began operations in the Ore Industrial hub.

The last time a deliberate and genuine efforts with visible results were made to industrialize the state was during the administration of the first civilian governor, Chief AdekunleAjasin, between 1979 and 1984. The Oluwa Glass Company and the Okitipupa Oil Palm were the pride of the state at the time.

But those good old days are back. The determination of the Governor Akeredolu has given room for a fresh of hope for Ondo State, as it joins the elite club of industrialized states in the nation. Already, five companies- a paper mill, ethanol plant, medium density fibre board, high density fibre board, ply wood and a textile company have sprouted from the mustard seed that was planted when the state signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Linyi municipal government of Shandong province of people Republic of China.

Determined to ensure a solid economic base for the state, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had embarked on an investment tour to China in June, 2017. That tour has given birth to what is now known as the Ore Industrial Park.

The industrial revolution in the state has taken a very strong foothold with the ethanol plant at about ninety-five percent completed and set to roll. According to the Business Development Manager of Wewood Limited, Mr. Sun Peng, a special specie of cassava are being planted in - between the Gmelina which will be used to feed the ethanol plant.

Already, about 1,000 people have been employed for the ethanol factory for direct jobs. The plant is also expected to provide jobs for more than 10,000 people, particularly cassava farmers and traders.

Local farmers are excited about a ready and lucrative market for their goods. Shehu Oladapo, a cassava farmer in Odigbo Local Government area of the state, was full of praise for the governor.

The WinWin Textile factory located inside the park commenced production of textile thread a few months ago. With 300 workers already employed, WinWin Textile has helped to ease the problem of unemployment on the people, especially the locals, who for the first time have found a worthwhile venture outside the civil service.

The WeewoodPlywood/HDF factory is already bubbling with life. Young men and women, who would have been roaming the streets, are busy with one task or the other. The company’s products, high quality fibre board plywood are already in high demand in local markets across the state, while the state is being positioned to earn foreign currency through the export of the product.

A short distance away, the expatriates are screwing the nuts and putting finishing touches to the giant paper mill factory. According toJack Sun, Business Development Manager for Weewood, the factory is now about eighty percent completed.

On completion, the paper mill is expected to employ more than 3000 direct staff, while many more are expected to benefit from jobs created down the value chain.

The paper mill, like other factories in the Ore Park, is structured to create more indirect jobs for the locals. For example, long before the machines for the mill began to arrive the shores of the country, Weewood commenced preparations by planting the trees the will form the primary raw materials for the mill.

Today, the almost 10,000 hectares of land allocated for the/Wewood afforestation project by Governor Akeredolu is beginning to yield the expected result, as the trees continue grow into maturity.

The story is a win-win situation for Ondo State and its people. The company will employ our people o the farm to plant the trees, it will go on to employ our people in the factory and other auxiliary jobs that would be created.

With the legacy projects of the Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu administration spread across the state, the governor is sure setting a standard by which governance would be measured in the country.

Source: https://thenationonlineng.net/akeredolu-two-and-a-half-years-later/