The last time a major editorial comment was published by The DEFENDER, observation was made about darkness that suddenly resurfaced in Akure, the face and capital city of Ondo State. In the comment, the online newspaper acknowledged the economic areas the governor was said to be interested in exploring and harnessing for greater Ondo State but also did not fail to advise him against neglecting street lights, due to their capacity for reducing ability of criminals to carry out their evil acts in the night, aside the city beautification that they also bring about, especially when joined with intra and inter-city/community infrastructures. The DEFENDER was particular about telling the governor how not to believe that his predecessor, Olusegun Mimiko, had done all that he needed to do as, according to the editorial comment, there are more roads to be constructed or reconstructed within Akure and to link the capital city to other major communities, by which his administration will also be credited or otherwise if he pays attention to that sector of needs or not.
Joyfully, the same team of this media organisation made yet another visit that required it to stay overnight in Akure between Friday and Saturday February 9 and 10, 2018 during which it saw improvement in the area of street lights. Adesida Road street lights were now seen to be working fine and perfectly up to Mobil/Oba-Ile junction roundable at the Ijapo/Alagbaka axis of the capital city. From Army Comprehensive Secondary School/Owena Cantonment area on Ondo Road through Arakale Road to NEPA roundable, there was wonderful improvement in street lights in that axis just like there was from NICON House roundabout at Isikan to Cathedral adjoining the Oyemekun/Oba Adesina road junction. Quite commendable!
However, there is need to still point to the government of Ondo State that road coming from NEPA/Arakele Roundabout to link Oda/Igbatoro/Alagbaka roads junction at Shoprite is still in darkness at night. That road passes right by the side of the Government House, particularly, the very building the governor and his first family live in and it is unhealthy for security of the state for the chief operator of its system to be that surrounded by darkness on the outer ground. Ondo State, 41 years after creation as a Federating Unit in Nigeria, should by now be placed side-by-side Dubai, considering the many economic instruments that it has access to, in the wealth community of Nigeria. While trying to be prudent, the government must realize that street lights system has now become a convention as instrument for achieving city or community security at night, knowing that evils have tendency of deploying their arsenal more in the night.
As an interested stakeholder, The DEFENDER, having notably played media roles in the heat of election of Akeredolu, would love to advise the governor to consider the opening up of Oda Road, dualise it, open up and dualise that road veering off from the frontage of A-Division to link NEPA/Arakale roundabout and let it go over to State Hospital/Ijoka/Oluwatuyi roads axis and make more pliable the road from NEPA to Shoprite junction and fix them all with street lights. You then move from there to Iju/Itaogbolu, pick up from Garage roundabout at Iju and dualise the road there up to Igboogun/Iseeri/St. Stephen’s Anglican Primary School where there is big ancient Iroko tree and push it further to Agunla down to Oke’ju across the Palace of Okiti of Iju beside Iju Central Mosque to link up with the starting road line at Oju’gbese. You then go to Idanre, dualise the road linking Idanre from Oke Aro junction within the Akure metropolis and then move to Ogbese along Owo-Abuja Road and open up that commercial nerve centre of the state by also doing a dualised circular road in the area and then move to Ilaramokin in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state where Elizade now has a university and FUTA stands on the neighbourhood, open it up to attract more investors in real estate to build more hostels and industries. Then you move to Orita Obele Road from Road Block and dualise the road there and stop. You will be placed in the same category of performers like Babatunde Fashola, Ibikunle Amosun, Abdullahi Ganduje, Rotimi Amaechi, Sullivan Chime, when you do these. Those are two: road infrastructure and street lights.
Then you focus your attention on creating farm centres and do more of investment in agriculture with major focus on cash and subsistence crops production including the thick that your government is said to be focusing on presently. In essence, we, at The DEFENDER, are saying that before any governor can be seen as performing, he MUST make his performance to be more felt in the physical than hidden and this is necessary because his chances of being commended and re-elected depend on number of people who are convinced by his ability to deliver the goods. It cannot therefore be seen as show-off in governance. Street lights and road infrastructures are the physical, while the agriculture aspect represents the hidden but will only show on the market day. Therefore, Governor Akeredolu should help empower existing market centres like Oke’ju and Oja Iseeri at Iju, Oja Oba at Itaogbolu, Oja Ogbese at Ogbese, Irese, Ijare, Alade Idanre, Owena, Bolorunduro, etc, and make them more functional to enable them generate taxes to boost the economic strength of the state. You can then follow up to all of these with sea port so that people can also come to Igbokoda or Okitipupa to clear their consignments rather than having to travel through the long distance to Lagos to do same.
This way, Governor Akeredolu will have done for South West’s only Niger Delta state, what no South West state has ever achieved before. It will be to the pride of entire Nigerians and more people will come to Ondo State to do businesses and the incessant attitude of waiting for Federal allocation to arrive before doing anything will cease to be the only hope for government and people of the state. Government will be able to get money to fund education, health, tourism and culture, sports and salaries will be paid as at when due. More indigenes will no longer see travelling to Lagos as dream that must be accomplished at cost, which in most cases make them end up creating urban slums that are today security threat to Lagos State. Akure City and those few chosen urbanized communities like Iju, Itaogbolu, Ilara Mokin, Idanre, Oba-Ile, Ogbese, having been empowered and boosted with infrastructures, will now become the destination of choice for industrialists to build industries. Moreso, school leavers and graduates who want to either pick up white colar jobs or go into entrepreneurship will, also at their respective level, join in the developmental effort that the government is making.
This will be a better way for the current Government of Ondo State to go and history will remember Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) for doing so. We, the watchers of events from the media community, too will never forget the governor and his administration.
