The governor of Oyo State, ‘Seyi Makinde, has said that his administration will continue to give its best to the people of the state despite the challenging times.
The governor said this on Thursday, March 7, at the presentation of 28 18-seater buses to tertiary institutions in the state at the car park of the Governor’s Office, State Secretariat, Agodi in Ibadan.
The Special Adviser (Media) to the governor, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, in a statement, quoted Makinde, in an address to the students, as saying that though the country is passing through a tough period, the period would soon be over.
He added that his administration would never relent in giving the best to the state and its people.
The governor stated that he was sensitive to the hardship foisted on the students as a result of the tough times and encouraged them to endure as the hardship would soon become a thing of the past.
He also noted that he had just signed the state scholarship and bursary awards for 2024, stressing that he would ensure that the disbursement is done seamlessly and with integrity.
While enjoining the students to cooperate with the leadership of their institutions, he also expressed his appreciation to them for the uncommon support he has been enjoying from them right from the inception of his administration.
Governor Makinde said that ‘Omituntun’, which is the embodiment of his political philosophy, has become a movement and would transcend 2027.
He stated: “When I started with Omituntun in 2015, it did not yield anything. In 2019, we had Omituntun 2019, then we won. So, we started Omituntun 1.0. In 2023, the student body came out to support this administration massively, again we won. That gave birth to Omituntun 2.0.
“In 2027 Omituntun 3.0 is coming because ‘Omituntun’ is not about Seyi Makinde anymore. It is now a movement and at various times different people will come to lead that movement.”
The governor said further: “I am restoring my own personal scholarship scheme. I stopped it after I became the governor but now I see the need to restore it because government alone cannot do enough.
“So the Seyi Makinde Scholarship Scheme will be in the paper in the next four weeks and will be disbursed in the next eight weeks.”
Earlier in his speech, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Student Affairs, Victor Olojede, commended Governor Makinde for the donation of the buses, describing it as unprecedented in the history of Nigeria.
He said that no governor had ever donated buses to all tertiary institutions and students bodies at the same time in the history of the country.
Other leaders who spoke on behalf of the students also commended the magnanimity of Governor Makinde towards the state students, describing him as the most student-friendly governor.
The event was attended by the Deputy Governor, Barrister Bayo Lawal; Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin; the Head of Service, Mrs Olubunmi Oni, commissioners and other dignitaries.
