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

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

The committee, which was made up of seasoned technocrats, came up with a five-point agenda that was aimed at: 1. Job creation through agriculture, entrepreneurship and industrialisation; 2. Massive infrastructural development and maintenance; 3. Provision of functional education and technological growth; 4. Provision of accessible and quality health care and social service delivery and 5 Rural development and community extension services.

A little over two-and-a-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 situation of the state at the time, the number of roads constructed was nothing but magical.

The administration inherited 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 marveling.

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 which 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 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 workers of the public service. 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 workers have earned their salaries more than 24 months unbroken! The government has also paid the workers their leave allowances. Without doubt, these are feats some people said were impossible to achieve a little less than two years ago.

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

Currently, 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 (IGR) 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 last year.

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-a-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 industrialise the state was during the administration of the first civilian governor, Chief Adekunle Ajasin, between 1979 and 1984. The Oluwa Glass Company and the Okitipupa Oil Palm were the pride of the state at the time.


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

Wow

In terms of IGR, Governor Akeredolu has been phenomenal

The hilly Oke-alabojuto road that was reduced to Isale-Alabojuto by Governor Akeredolu's administration.

Over 700 public primary schools have been rehabilitated across the 18 local government areas of the Ondo State.

Are these not Mimiko's projects?

hisexcellency34:
Are these not Mimiko's projects?

No sir. These are projects initiated and completed by Governor Akeredolu's administration.

Nice one then

Sanromeo:


No sir. These are projects initiated and completed by Governor Akeredolu's administration.

In his determination to industrialise Ondo State, Five industries have began operations.

Sanromeo:
The hilly Oke-alabojuto road that was reduced to Isale-Alabojuto by Governor Akeredolu's administration.

This is my hometown, this guy really tried on this road