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His Excellency Engr. OluSeyi
Abiodun Makinde D.Sc, FNSE
the Executive Governor of Oyo State
at the Commissioning of the 9.7km
Saki Township Road Dualisation Project
on Thursday, January 27, 2022
et me start by thanking my dear brother,
LHisExcellency, Governor Ahmadu Umaru
Fintiri of Adamawa State, for honouring us
with hispresence here today as we commission
this very strategic road to the people of Saki, Oke-
Ogun zone – the Saki Township Road. It has been
delightful watching all the displays of culture here
and the warm welcome you all have given us.
When people see us celebrating a road
construction, they sometimes say it’s a third
world concept. They ask: What are they
celebrating? Why are they celebrating? But,
looking at the faces of everyone here today we
can answer, we are celebrating accelerated
development. Because everywhere a strategic
road goes, development follows immediately.
This principle did not start with us. History has
it that the rst road for motorised vehicles in
Nigeria was built here in Oyo State in 1906.
That road linked Ibadan to Oyo Town. And the
main purpose of that road was to move people and
agricultural products from Oyo to Ibadan and then
to the ports for export.
This is why I am excited about the road
linkages we are creating here in the Oke-Ogun
zone. Oke-Ogun is our breadbasket and
agricultural capital. So. linking Oke-Ogun up
with the rest of the zones means that we can
easily move our produce on for export, either
by air through our Airport-Ajia Road being
reconstructed or through the proposed inland
dry port which is just off the Moniya-Iseyin
Road, which we have also completed.
We know from history that all of this work we
have put in will bring about the needed
development to our dear state. As we always
say, for our state to take that leading role that we
all dream of, we must take development beyond
Ibadan.
We cannot afford to continue in the trajectory
where one part of the state is generating the
revenue that all the other parts of the state benet
from. This will only create another Nigerian
situation in Oyo State. We all already know how
some parts of the country feel about other parts
because they believe it is their revenue that everyone
is sharing.