Residents of Ibadan land have asked the Oyo State government to give attention to fixing primary health centres (PHCs), blown-off roofs and perimeter fencing in schools, recruiting sanitary inspectors, rehabilitating roads and decongesting parts of the city.
The residents drawn from across the 11 local government areas of Ibadan land made these requests at the stakeholders’ consultative meeting on the 2023 budget, held on Wednesday, at the University of Ibadan.
Representing Ibadan North local government area at the event, Mr Gbolagade Ahmed mentioned that St Peter’s Catholic Primary School, Oke-Are yawned for the state government’s attention in terms of infrastructure and perimeter fencing to secure the school.
In his own presentation, Mr Olalekan Julius of Ibadan North-West said the local government yearned for the completion of PHCs, sanitary inspectors, rehabilitation of bad roads and the need to decongest the Eleyele roundabout.
On his part, Mr Rasaq Ademola lamented that there were a number of schools in Ibadan South-West local government with blown-off roofs, while PHCs need to be fixed, and community development associations (CDAs) need to be given more recognition.
Standing for the youths, Mr Kazeem Kehinde of Ibadn South-East local government asked the state government to set up a task force to check the inflating cost of goods in the market.
On behalf of market men and women, Mr S. A. Jimoh bemoaned that several market roads in Ibadan are bad while asking the state government to also provide loans for traders.
Representing the artisans, Mr Salaudeen Kamorudeen simply asked the state government to support them with money.
Speaking for traditional councils, Baale Ekotedo, Mr Taye Ayorinde asked that a member of the traditional council should be part of the state government.
Responding to the requests, the acting governor of the state, Mr Bayo Lawal assured that the state government would factor the various requests in the budget plans of the state government.
Mentioning that Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration had done a lot to boost the state’s economy, Lawal affirmed that from over N2trillion that it met in 2019, the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased to over N5trillion.
While listing infrastructure projects done by the administration, Lawal said the state government had now resolved to give attention to siting developmental programmes for the Ibarapa zone.
For a start, he said the state government will be rehabilitating the Ido-Eruwa road.
He equally said, at the end of this year’s rainy season, the state government will commence rehabilitation of rural roads through the RAAMP and financial support from development partners.
Among other strides, Lawal said the state had completed 56 model schools in three years and approved the recruitment of additional 500 corps members into the state Amotekun.
Speaking further, Lawal stated that the state will henceforth arrest and prosecute those found selling alcohol around the bus terminals in Ibadan, the state capital.
In his own remarks, the state commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Musbau Babatunde said the state had attracted over N1.87trillion in investments in the past three years.
He said the stakeholders’ forum was the state adopting a bottom-up approach to help it situate developmental projects that specifically meet the needs of the people of the state.
