It was the same story across the length and breadth of Ekiti State which has been turned to a massive construction site by Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji affectionately called BAO by the appreciative residents of the state.
The roaring of tractors, vibrations of earth-moving machinery and equipment, ear-piercing hits of hammers, chisels and other working tools with contractors, who are in race against time to deliver quality jobs supervising their workmen, most of the times under the scorching sun and the searing heat, were the common features during the tour undertaken by representatives of electronic, print and online media in the state
Most of the times, the expectations of the contractors and their workers were to receive Mr. Governor or the Commissioners in charge of the supervising ministries or the Special Advisers/Directors General of the Bureaus that perform the supervising oversight of the concerned projects.
But this time, it was the case of men and women of the fourth estate of the realm who were armed with cameras to record what they saw, voice recorders, jotters and pens to interview project contractors, consultants, workmen, civil servants of the supervising ministries and residents of the communities and neighbourhoods where the projects are being executed. The journalists were joined on the trip by members of the state Executive Council, who are saddled with the task of approving the appropriations and timeline for all the projects.
Usually, journalists and statutory regulatory agencies are unwanted guests by contractors at such project sites but the Oyebanji Administration in a bid to deeply entrench the values of probity, transparency and accountability believes that the members of the public must be adequately informed of what is happening on various project sites and how the tax payers’ funds are being spent.
The tour, apart from satisfying the curiosity of the journalists and also holding the government accountable, also gave members of the State Executive Council an opportunity to see the extent of work on the projects awarded during their weekly cabinet meetings and to know how approvals have turned to something concrete.
The two-day media tour which commenced on 5th September and ended on 6th September had general managers of radio and television stations, officials of the state councils of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), the print and electronic arms of the Correspondents’ Chapel who represent the major national newspapers and radio and television stations with headquarters outside the state and online media practitioners on board.
They moved across the three senatorial districts covering many communities, towns and local government areas where they stopped at each of the project sites for very incisive assessment of the ongoing ones, the nearly completed ones and the completed ones with very probing questions which the contractors, consultants, civil servant-engineers and their supervising commissioners and special advisers were on hand to answer.
The journalists also enquired on the quality of materials used for ongoing projects, when they were started, the completion dates and the level of their longevity and the cost of the projects. In some instances in which they needed explanations that were technical in nature, they engaged the engineers in the employ of the state government who gave their expert opinions to resolve some riddles on such projects.
Apart from the questions directed at these officials, the media executives also felt the pulse of the locals, the men and women on the streets, the residents of the communities and neighbourhoods hosting such projects who had words of appreciation, applause and praises for Governor Oyebanji for “taking development further to the hinterland” and “remembering hitherto forgotten places and putting them in the limelight.”
Some of the completed projects inspected during the media tour included the Model Smart School at Ekiti Knowledge Zone in Ijan Ekiti; renovation of dining hall and construction of therapy room at the Special School in Ido Ekiti; 100-capacity hostel at Command Secondary School, Isan Ekiti; ICT Centre and Catering Department at Government Technical College, Igbara Odo; renovated classrooms and ICT Centre at Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti; GRA 3rd Extension Road in Ado Ekiti and the mammogram machine installed at the Funmilayo Adunni Olayinka Diagnostic and Wellness Centre, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti.
Ongoing projects inspected included the renovation and restructuring of the General Hospital, Ijan Ekiti; Isinbode-Ara-Ikole Road, Ilukuno-Ayegunle Road, Itapa-Omu-Ijelu Road, Ilawe-Ikere Road, Igbara Odo-Ikere Road, Erekesan Market interior-Ewi Palace Link Road, Ado Ekiti New Town Housing Estate, Ado Ekiti Ring Road Phase One, Indoor Sports Hall and International Centre for Arts and Culture with many of the projects intended to be game changers of development and impact on the social and economic lives of the people.
For example, the Isinbode-Ara-Ikole Road when completed would provide another shortcut to link Ekiti South and Ekiti North senatorial districts while the Ilawe-Ikere Road and Igbara Odo-Ikere Road would be an alternative for commuters who intend to link Ondo and Osun State without having to pass through Ado Ekiti, the state capital. Itapa-Omu-Ijelu Road provides quicker and shorter access to Gede Farm Settlement, an agricultural asset along that axis.
The Ado Ekiti Ring Road project, which starts from the Ekiti State University (EKSU) end, passes through towns like Iworoko Ekiti, Are Ekiti, Araromi Obbo, Ago Aduloju, coming out through Ijan Ekiti to link the International Agro Cargo Airport and is expected to give rise to well-planned residential quarters and neighborhoods thereby opening up the corridor for further development.
Apart from the General Hospital, Ijan Ekiti, the journalists on the media tour learnt that renovation and overhaul were ongoing in total number of nine general hospitals after the initial nine general hospitals had been done in the first phase. Apart from the massive renovation of the hospitals, the state government also complemented the work with the supply of medical equipment to allow them to become centres of quality medical care for the populace.
Speaking on the benefits of some of the projects when completed, cabinet members said they were carefully conceived in line with the six-pillar agenda of the Oyebanji Administration to enhance the standard of living of the people, attract investors and tourists and to generate revenue into the state coffers.
Commissioner for Works, Mr. Adesola Adebayo, explained that the Oyebanji Administration, in a bid to ensure the longevity of the roads under construction, has made the use of laterite base as a state policy thereby abrogating the hitherto use of laterite base by contractors expressing confidence that the roads would last not less than ten years before undergoing rehabilitation.
Commissioner for Education, Dr. Olabimpe Aderiye, spoke on the value of the ICT Centres at Government Technical College, Igbara Odo and Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti. She also gave an overview of the hostel projects the state government is constructing at the Command Secondary School, Isan Ekiti to give the school, owned by the Nigerian Army, a sound footing in Ekiti.
Special Adviser on Special Education and Social Inclusion, Princess Adetoun Agboola, spoke on the state-of-the-art facilities put in place by the Oyebanji Administration at the State Special School in Ido Ekiti to make education conducive for the physically challenged students. She also took the media men and women to completed dining hall which was a project sponsored by the Governor to mark his 56th birthday.
Special Adviser on Housing and Mortgage Development, Mr. Gboyega Oloniyo, disclosed that the Ado Ekiti New Town Housing Estate was embarked upon to make more shelter available to people at home and those in Diaspora who intend to own property in an organized and planned environment.
He revealed that the estate being constructed on 60 hectares of land would be equipped with facilities like a 100-room hotel, a police station, a filling station, a mini stadium, an amusement park, among others for the comfort of the would-be residents.
Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Prof. Rasaki Bakare, explained that the International Centre for Arts and Culture would boast of an arts theatre for performances, an events hall, a gallery of modern arts and craft, an artistes’ camp, a research library and a museum.
He further explained that the Centre being built with the aim of attracting grants from the international agencies like UNESCO and would also be used to boost tourism and generate revenue. Bakare noted that the presence of Ureje River and Dam in the area would allow aquatic activities like fishing and boat regatta to take place when the Centre is completed.
Speaking on the new Indoor Sports Hall project, Technical Advisor on Sports Development, Dr. Olusola Osetoba, said the project is a big statement from Governor Oyebanji to provide facilities to place the state on national, continental a global sporting map. She said the project would help motivate sportsmen and women in Ekiti and give them access to facilities their counterparts enjoy elsewhere.
She noted that the indoor sports hall, when completed, can be used for not less than 16 sports including basketball, handball, table tennis, squash, badminton, gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, and would enable Ekiti to host national and international sporting competitions.
Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Prof. Bolaji Aluko and Special Adviser/Director General of the Office of Transformation and Service Delivery, Dr. John Ekundayo, gave further insights on some of the projects including the Model Smart School, General Hospital and electricity projects along the major roads leading to the project sites and connecting the communities.
Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said the media tour afforded the media professionals opportunity to have a first-hand knowledge and physically see the work being done by the Oyebanji Administration and feed the people back with what they have seen.
Olatunbosun said the tour also served as a means of giving account of stewardship and carrying the media along in the development of Ekiti State in recognition of its role as a partner in dissemination of the right information to the populace
The scenario of different strokes for different folks played out during the media tour. While the journalists were on fact-finding mission and cabinet members seeing it as a forum to explain the benefits of the projects, the inspection gave the people in the grassroots who are the beneficiaries an opportunity to endorse Oyebanji for another term in office when he had not declared any intent yet.
Residents of Ilukuno-Ekiti in Ijero Local Government during the tour declared their readiness to reward the Governor with re-election for another term in office in appreciation of work done so far on Ilukuno-Ayegunle Road where one kilometer had been tarred out of the 5.6 kilometers stretch of the road.
Led by the Odofin of Ilukuno, Chief Toyin Obabiolorun, they expressed gratitude to the Governor for remembering their community which they described as “long abandoned” noting that although the work is still ongoing, the joy the project has brought to them is “indescribable.”
The community leader said his people have resolved to use their votes to re-elect the Governor noting that “he deserves a re-election to encourage him to continue the good work he is doing in Ilukuno and other parts of the state which they are hearing of on daily basis.”
“Without mincing words, BAO, our father, deserves another term in office and that is our resolution in Ilukuno and our decision cannot be changed. We appreciate him for the work done on this road because our farm produce used to perish because of the bad condition of the road in the past but the story has changed now,” Chief Odofin said.
Also, many residents of neighbourhoods along Faglo-Olorunsogo-De Head Road in Ado Ekiti including Ikingbinsin and Irewumi Communities trooped out in their numbers chanting “BAO for Second Term,” “Four Plus For,” in appreciation of the work carried out on the road including the blasting of the rock at a bend along the stretch to expand the road.
Many residents of GRA Third Extension in Ado Ekiti trooped out in their numbers during the tour of the completed road project trumpeting their support for another term in office for Oyebanji whom they noted had performed well in office and raised the bar of governance in Ekiti State.
They noted that although the area, despite being an exclusive residential area for the upwardly mobile people, had suffered untold neglect with the hitherto bad condition of the road before the Oyebanji Administration deemed it fit to carry out its reconstruction for their social and economic benefits.
While returning to Ado Ekiti on the first day of the tour, the media executives noticed a massive reconstruction of a federal government road, Ado-Iworoko-Ifaki Highway. Owing to the fact that the dusk was approaching, the convoy did not stop for a scrutiny of the project but the turnaround was noted and it would definitely be revisited by them in no distant time.
The second lane on the highway has been completed and now being used by the motoring public while work has shifted to the first lane. The gesture demonstrates Oyebanji’s intervention on federal roads in some parts of the state to alleviate the suffering of residents in intrastate and interstate transportation.
The frenetic and animated pace of work on the federal highway, which links the state to Kwara, Kogi, Abuja and a major link road to some federal and state educational and health institutions located in Ekiti North senatorial district, is already creating excitement among the people of the state who are hopeful that the construction which has spanned about 15 years owing to administrative and legal issues would soon come to an end.
The two-day media tour was an eye opener for the media practitioners whose perspectives on the projects have been broadened and are now armed with facts and figures to report what they saw to their readers, listeners and viewers on what Oyebanji is doing with public funds to make Ekiti a better place to reside and invest in.
*Ogunmola is Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Print
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