‘Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, has revealed that he would cherish the opportunity given to him by the people of the state if his political journey ends with being governor of Oyo State.
The governor maintained that his administration has been able to build road infrastructure and put in place adequate security across the state, noting that these are the enablers for the agribusiness success and economic expansion being witnessed in the state.
Makinde stated this on Tuesday, while appearing on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
This was just as he declared that that he will not be distracted by the clamour in some quarters for him to run for Presidency in 2027.
He noted that he would not allow anyone to set an agenda for him, adding that as of now, he remained committed to delivering infrastructure, policies and programmes that will make lives more meaningful for the people, which is the mandate given to him by the Oyo State people.
According to him, he has the capacity to occupy the highest position in the land, but he would put into consideration what the Nigerian people want, what his political party wants and what would be in the best interest of the people.
He made a reference to his recent trip to France, stating that the trip was to finalise the deal to have a Food Wholesale Market established in Ijaiye by the Rungis International, describing the project and the Special Agro-Processing Zones springing up in Eruwa and Ijaiye as some of the gains of the agribusiness policy of the administration.
“For us, we don’t enjoy going to Abuja every month to get a handout as monthly allocation. We have all it takes. People say that Africa will get out of poverty when we take on the world, but for us in Oyo State, our approach is that what we need to take on the world is almost what we need for import substitution.
“We are building infrastructure that will allow us to have foreign exchange in agriculture and agribusiness. The infrastructure we are building are the enablers for agribusiness. We started out by connecting Ibadan, which is the major consumption hub to Oke Ogun, the major agriculture hub. We also connected Oyo to Oke Ogun and then we connected Ogbomoso, which is the second largest consumption hub to Oke Ogun.
“Through infrastructure, we have not only enabled agribusiness, we have halted rural-urban migration. You know that I hosted the President of Sierra Leone in Fashola Agribusiness Hub recently and he said to me that he once spoke with the President of China, asking him how he was feeding 1.6 billion people and the Chinese President told him, infrastructure. That if you build infrastructure, private people would come to build farms and industries. That is what we have done in Oyo State.”
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