The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Barrister Bayo Lawal, has assured residents of the state that the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde will revamp the Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA) ahead of the task before the agency.
The deputy governor made the declaration on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, when he embarked on an inspection tour to the agency which he said had been dormant for sometime, particularly the enormous responsibility ahead as regards road rehabilitation across the state.
In his assessment, Barrister Lawal expressed satisfaction with the readiness of the agency under the Executive Chairman, Hon Busoye Ogunlade, to key into the vision of Governor Makinde’s infrastructural drive across the state.
He stated further that OYSROMA had displayed high sense of responsibility, commitment and character to handle the rehabilitation of the five-kilometre road rehabilitation in each of the 33 local governments in the state through direct labour.
He stressed that without subventions from government, OYSROMA has the facilities to fund its activities without anticipating money from the state government, noting that the vision of the Makinde-led administration is for government agencies to look inward on how to generate funds that could sustain the agency.
He said: “This is the second time I will be visiting OYSROMA. The first time I came, I told them to put their house in order because of the enormous responsibility that is upon them and OYSROMA has been very dormant for quite sometimes, and because of the vision of Governor Seyi Makinde, we must revamp and rehabilitate OYSROMA. So the purpose of my visit this afternoon is to see the state of preparedness of OYSROMA as an agency of the government in respect of challenges ahead of them.
“First and foremost, one of the things I have noticed is that even without any subvention from the government, OYSTROMA has facilities that can bring money. I’ve moved round, the yard is very big lying fallow, and one of the vision of this administration is to look inward. Whatever we can turn into money, use it for the purpose of the administration. For instance, obsolete vehicles littered the surroundings, some of them are as old as 30, 40 years that even if you want to maintain them, there are no spare parts to do such. Why are you adorning the compound with such things? To me and to this administration, whatever is useless should be discarded, so I have directed that such vehicles should be gotten rid of from the premises.
“Secondly, this is supposed to be a work yard and the facilities are there. There is mechanic workshop, carpentry workshop; these are things that can be used to make money even through partnership. So the environment must be steady; the work force must be steady.
“His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde has directed that even the road network of the local government must be handled by OYSROMA, so if such work would be handled by it, then it behoves on me as the overseer to make sure that they are in good stead. I have examined and I know that they can handle this because government is not ready to do this on contract basis. We have engineers, civil, architects.
“Government is investing a lot of money to repair roads across the state and this is the agency that will drive it. I have told them they have a lot of job at hand, if they’ve been closing by 5pm everyday, they must be thinking about not closing at all as the work load is much. It is a private sector driven, I will sit on their neck and I believe Oyo State will be better for it. They’ve been doing road patching and they will continue that. They are also spreading to Oyo, Ogbomoso, Ibarapa and Oke Ogun.”
In his remarks earlier, the Chairman of OYSROMA, Hon Busoye Ogunlade lauded the Deputy Governor, saying he is proud to say that the members of staff have redoubled their commitment, dedication and loyalty whenever it comes to their job.
“Once again, thank you for your effort in making sure that Oyo State residents get maximum benefits from all agencies and for your fatherly guidance,” he said.
