By Moses Alao
On Thursday, 29th May, 2025, Governor ‘Seyi Makinde marked his sixth year in office. Though there was no pomp or ceremony, the last 2,190 days have been defining as much as they were eventful for Oyo State, with many landmark projects, programmes and policies that have helped to reposition the state and impact on the lives of its residents.
The governor summed up the events of the past six years in his bi-monthly newsletter released on May 29, when he said his administration has raised internally generated revenue by over 295 per cent, improved infrastructure in every zone of the state, invested in agriculture, youth employment, and public health and managed crises without losing the public trust.
The journey to the Eldorado actually started on May 29, 2019. And, typical of every new office holder, the governor promised much amid a sea of expectations but many politicians doubted him and created a plethora of fears in the people that the new governor, having not held a political office before, would make a mess of governance. Some of them went to town with all sorts of narratives about their fears for the state and how the governor would govern it.
Just like yesterday, it’s been six years and in those six years, Seyi, who was tagged inexperienced, has become the exemplar of good governance and people-oriented leadership and a model for other leaders across the country. In those six years or 2,190 days, Governor Seyi Makinde has moved on to achieve great and unprecedented things across different sectors, bringing Oyo State to parity with the most viable states in the country and reclaiming the Pacesetting glory of the state as envisioned by the founding fathers.
Through different pragmatic and well-thought-out policies, Oyo has become a standout in the comity of states and has, even become a star among sub-nationals in Nigeria. The governor’s massive investments in education and healthcare delivery have seen the state record a tremendous turnaround in the two sectors. In the education sector, where GSM has rebuilt education infrastructure and ensured the recruitment of over 21,000 teachers across the primary and secondary school sectors, Oyo has returned to the pantheon of glory in educational excellence.
As a testament to the governor’s commitment to improving education in the state, school enrolment in public schools have tripled since he first assumed office, close to 100,000 out-of-school children have been returned to the classrooms, while on the tertiary education scene, the upgrade of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education to a University capped the achievements. All these achievements, however, pale beside how the governor was able to secure the sole ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) for Oyo State, established and constructed a College of the institution in Iseyin with world class infrastructure that showed that Makinde has, indeed, leaped where his predecessors in office wobbled.
Similarly, the total overhaul of the healthcare system in the state, including the rehabilitation of over 200 Primary Health Care Centres, the renovations and equipment of General Hospitals and the recruitment of thousands into the health sector also attested to the governor’s people-oriented leadership.
In the economic sector, where Governor Makinde made a commitment to expand the economy of Oyo State and to work hard towards making it less-dependent on allocations from Abuja, so much has been achieved to the chagrin of his admirers and even naysayers. In six years, Governor Makinde moved Oyo State from being a state in the economic backwaters in Nigeria to becoming one of the six most viable states in the country. He has equally made a massive impact in the area of securing the state and its people’s growing wealth.
Through his administration’s massive concentration on rebuilding infrastructure connecting zones, towns and inner roads in city centres, which has culminated in the building of the longest roads ever built by a single administration in the state, Oyo State has been opened up to investments and investors, with the attendant effects in revenue, employment creation and massive economic leap. The evidence of Governor Makinde’s success in infrastructure development dot the Oyo State landscape. The 76.7 kilometres new road built to connect Iseyin in Oke Ogun to Ogbomoso to the 65 kilometres Moniya-Ijaiye-Iseyin Road, the 34.6 kilometres Oyo-Iseyin Road, the ongoing Ido-Eruwa, Saki-Ogbooro-Igboho Roads as well as the massive transformation of the infrastructure in Ibadan metropolis serve as worthy scorecards of an administration that has since become renowned for engineering a modern Oyo State.
Also of great acclaim is the ongoing 110 kilometres Senator Rashidi Ladoja Circular Road, which first phase of 32 kilometres is nearing completion. Through that project, Governor Makinde is building a world class infrastructure that will not only make Ibadan less congested but also become a money-spinner to Oyo State and its coming generations.
Following these scores of road projects and transformation of the Oyo State landscape, Governor Makinde has earned himself the label of Mr Infrastructure. In what could be termed as a worthy assessment of GSM’s achievements in infrastructure development, chieftains of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), including Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN) and Barr. Mutalubi Adebayo Ojo (SAN), a ferocious supporter of former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Makinde’s predecessor in office, have at different times, hailed the governor for transforming the infrastructure of the state. The latter even refers to the governor as Mr Infrastructure in many of his write-ups.
Also as part of efforts, which have resulted into the massive expansion of the Oyo State economy, Governor Makinde has dared to be different in the way he went about reforming the economy of Oyo State. He chose a path less travelled through agribusiness development, thereby making a success story out of Oyo State and making it a true pacesetter. Through the administration’s commitment to agribusiness development, Oyo has become the first state in Nigeria to have the African Development Bank-supported Special Agro-Industrial Processing Centre, a development that will not only transform agriculture forever, but also increase industrialisation in the state.
In this area, Governor Makinde’s six years in office have been full of commendations, as the agribusiness policy has attracted attention from far and near, even internationally, with heads of AfDB, IITA and even the President of Sierra Leone, Dr Julius Bio, among others, paying glowing tributes to the governor, who took a bold step in the interest of his people.
The outcomes of these strong resolutions to drive economic change through infrastructure and agribusiness are the unprecedented growth in IGR, the massive increase in VAT and the presence of multinational companies investing in Oyo, the state that has become the new haven of investments in the country. From a paltry N1.6 billion Internally Generated Revenue monthly in 2019, Oyo State now makes around N8 billion monthly as per statistics from the state’s Internal Revenue Service.
If you consider the above statistics one of the gimmicks of those in government, wait till you hear the commendations from the highly cerebral chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji on how Governor Makinde has transformed the economy of Oyo State? In fact, in the words of Dr Adedeji, who himself once served as a Commissioner for Finance in Oyo State and who has become one of the topmost overseers of Nigeria’s economy, the six years of Governor Makinde have been better summed up.
Before the FIRS chairman, revered residents of the state, including renowned Economics Professor, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju; former Minister of Industries, Chief Mrs Onikepo Akande; former Nigeria’s Ambassador to Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi had all paid tributes to the uncommon leadership that Makinde has provided to Oyo State, lauding the governor for daring to be different and being committed to the welfare of his people and the development of the state. But in Adedeji’s words, there was a consummation of all that has been said about the six years of GSM effect in Oyo State.
Just a few days to the sixth anniversary of Makinde’s government, Zacch, who is the chairman of the Joint Tax Board, which had its 157th Meeting in Ibadan, said: “Your time in office have undoubtedly been impactful…your administration has made significant strides in urban renewal, housing, road infrastructure.
“While significant milestones have been made in other sectors such as education, healthcare, transportation, housing, trade and investment etc, it is interesting to note that the government of Oyo State is also concerned with socioeconomic growth, especially at the grassroots. We wish to acknowledge the impact your administration is having on the IGR fortunes of the State. Oyo State is currently ranked among the top 10 States in total revenue generated, with a 2024 IGR performance of N65.28 billion. Your administration’s impact on IGR can be better appreciated when we consider that you have grown the revenue profile by 145.5 per cent, since your assumption of office in 2019.”
Yes, it has been six years of accelerated and sustainable development in Oyo, yet GSM is saying that the good governance would continue to the very last day of his government and the people are assured about this, knowing that he is nothing short of a promise-keeper.
•Alao is the Special Assistant (Print Media) to Oyo State Governor.
