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With lots of projects either completed or under construction,
simultaneously in both the rural areas and urban centres in Ondo State,
Our Correspondent reports that Governor Olusegun Mimiko had set a
track record of exemplary performance which without doubt, surpassed
those of successive administrations since the state was created in 1976.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s response to a question from a journalist at a
news conference to mark his 100 days in office sometimes in May 2009
on whether he would be able to muster the political will required to
actualize his dreams of transforming Akure from a big village to a modern
city with all the facilities of a true urban centre, stunned everybody who
witnessed the event.
However, despite the articulate but unambiguous description of his
dreams combined with his innocence look and the seriousness with
which he analyzed his vision, and how he would actualize it, probably not
a single person but the governor himself, would have been convinced on
the occasion that a civilian governor, with an eye for a second term, would
dare thread on such a dangerous terrain.
The implication of the governor’s project was that hundreds of street
traders would be chased away from the main roads to give way to free
flow of traffic while close to 500 buildings would be demolished to expand
some roads and beautify the streets.
The project would not also spare the ubiquitous car dealers who had
taken over a major portion of the Oyemekun, Alagbaka and Hospital
roads in Akure as there was a plan to outlaw the sale of vehicles by the
roadside within the city.
To effectively actualize his dream to make Akure, a real urban city centre,
Mimiko would also have a rough deal with artisans as they would no
longer be allowed to operate in makeshift workshops within the city,
under the master plan.
Mimiko noticed that he did not convince the journalists at the forum,
which was also attended by top editorial staff of some reputable print and
electronic media organizations, but he kept his dream to himself and set
out to work immediately.
Within a year, Iroko, as he is fondly called by his numerous admirers and
supporters within and outside the state, had successfully removed scores
of streets traders from the main roads and relocated them to a much
more convenient, comfortable and affordable markets which are beautifully
constructed by all standard.
In less than two years, the governor had replicated the facilities, tagged;
“Caring Heart Neighbourhood markets” in many parts of Akure and even
built bigger types in other major towns like Okitipupa, Ondo, Ikare, and
Owo among others.
Also within the period, the governor collapsed some ramshackle but
dilapidated primary schools which constituted terrible eyesore within the
capital city and in their place, emerged modern mega structures with up-
to-date facilities, and could pass for the best private school anywhere in
the country.
The expansion of the Arakale Road and the beautification of the Oba
Adesida/Oyemekun Road started and many cynics who thought the
project would consume the Mimiko administration, were disappointed as
everybody, whose property was affected, was adequately compensated.
The state government spent up to N1bn to pay compensation to all those
whose houses or shops were removed to pave the way for the expansion
of Arakale road which would also accommodate bus shelters like the
ones on Oba Adesida/Oyemekun Roads.
Today, the Oba Adesida and Oyemekun roads are not only a beauty to
behold, but a spectacle of all eyes at night with sparkling street lights
powered by heavy generators which automatically switch on in the
evenings and switch off at dawns.
Of significant importance, is to mention the fact that all automobile
dealers had been successfully relocated to a unique place known as
automart, while the auto-technicians also had a mechanic village
established for them.
Apart from his magic wand in the city centres, Mimiko’s administration
had also in the last three years, executed a number of projects chosen
by the people in about 308 rural communities across the state.
It started with 80 Quick- win priority projects in the first one year, and
rose to 230 projects in 230 communities in the second year and to 308
projects, across 308 communities in less than three years.
The Quick-Win projects, otherwise known as Confidence - Building
projects came on the platform of a 3i-initiative - Infrastructure, Institution
and Industry. The Infrastructural facilities provided in the 308
communities include basic health centre, town hall, block of classrooms,
skill acquisition centre, solar powered borehole, mono pump, open
market stalls, cassava processing industry, high court complex, rural
electrification, rural feeder roads and culvert.
In the area of human capital development, Governor Olusegun Mimiko
started by paying a whopping N1.4bn retirement benefits to scores of
pensioners who had disengaged from service between 1999 and 2010 as
either local government employees or as teachers.
The gesture was also extended to various organized market groups and
traders associations when the state’s micro-credit agency gave out over
N2bn as soft loans to hundreds of farmers, traders and artisans to
support their businesses to make them financially independent.
Obviously disturbed by the embarrassing rates of graduate unemployment
in the state, the Mimiko administration, also established very large
modern farm villages in each of the three senatorial districts of the state.
They are located in Auga-Akoko (Ondo North), Ore (Ondo South) and Epe
(Ondo central).
Accommodation with necessary facilities was provided in each of the
modern villages for all the graduate farmers who are expected to be
trained in the modern technique of farming. Apart from the monthly
stipend they were paid, proceeds from the farms of the young farmers
would be bought at competitive market prices by the state government in
order to encourage them after each harvest.
Worried by the declining standard of education in the country with Ondo
state not an exemption, the governor established the Quality Assurance
Agency. The agency was expected to standardise the quality of
education, and rescue the system from total collapse.It will also
reposition it for better service delivery by achieving qualitative and
sustainable service delivery through the process of whole school
evaluation.
The Mimiko administration, determined to tackle the disturbing maternal
mortality rate in the country and Ondo state in particular, introduced the
Abiye programme, a code name for an all round revolution in the health
care delivery targeting mothers and babies.
This initiative has been applauded beyond the shores of Nigeria. The
World Bank even described it as an innovation to be adopted by other
African nations if indeed the intractable problem of infant and maternal
mortality prevalent in Africa must be tackled
Abiye is a Yoruba word for safe motherhood which could also pass for a
prayer. Under the programme, any pregnant woman, right from the day of
registration at any of the government hospitals, is attached to a team of
medical personnel and doctor for close monitoring.
She is given a mobile phone on the bill of the state government, which
would enable her to seek and receive consistent and constant medical
attention anywhere, even in the remotest part of the state without buying
air time on her phone.
The innovation had allowed Mimiko to achieve the Millenium Development
Goals of improving maternal and infant health by tracking the four major
killers: severe bleeding, infections, hypertensive disorders and obstructed
labour.
A comprehensive tertiary specialist hospital known as ‘the Mother and
Child Hospital’ was also established to serve as referral centre for
complicated cases involving child health and delivery.
The hospital, cited in Akure and is being replicated in other major towns
in the state, specifically offers specialized medical care, including
complicated surgeries at no cost to the patients.
It is on record that the hospital had taken delivery of about 2, 000 babies
in the last two years of its establishment.
The civil servants were also not left out in the scheme of things as the
administration apart from ensuring regular payments of their salaries and
allowances, had also renovated and reconstructed the various office
complexes at the state secretariat to provide a conducive environment for
them to operate.
The administration had also in the last three years, been able to provide
conducive environment for business as it had checked the activities of
street urchins who usually harass and molest law abiding residents
before Mimiko was sworn-in as governor.
The governor’s exemplary performance was attested to last week by a
former Governor of the Old Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua
who expressed conviction that Mimiko will win the 2012 governorship
election in the state for the second term because of his remarkable and
unprecedented performances in the last three years.
Olumilua, who stated this during the wedding ceremony of his daughter,
Tolulope held at the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Ibukun in Ikere Ekiti,
said he was convinced that Mimiko will win the election despite all the
challenges currently being faced by him.
The erstwhile governor maintained that apart from the various projects
already executed by the governor which cut across all sectors, “Mimiko
will win because he is serving a living God”
Olumilua commended Mimiko for being steadfast and focused by refusing
to be distracted even in the face of open threats and conspiracy against
him from some self-seeking politicians who wanted to hijack the state at
all cost. He said Mimiko’s performances so far had been very impressive
and that his first-term score card was there for anybody to appreciate.
Hear him: “I am a living witness to the Iroko revolution in Ondo State,
hence my strong conviction that he had been able to earn the confidence
of the electorate though his impressive performance. I have visted Ondo
State on several occasions recently and I am particularly happy with the
transformation going on and I know that the people of the state are behind
him”.
Observers however believed that the Mimiko administration would be able
to achieve an all round transformation of the state in his first-term in office
only if the various contractors handling the roads projects could complete
them in record time.
simultaneously in both the rural areas and urban centres in Ondo State,
Our Correspondent reports that Governor Olusegun Mimiko had set a
track record of exemplary performance which without doubt, surpassed
those of successive administrations since the state was created in 1976.
Governor Olusegun Mimiko’s response to a question from a journalist at a
news conference to mark his 100 days in office sometimes in May 2009
on whether he would be able to muster the political will required to
actualize his dreams of transforming Akure from a big village to a modern
city with all the facilities of a true urban centre, stunned everybody who
witnessed the event.
However, despite the articulate but unambiguous description of his
dreams combined with his innocence look and the seriousness with
which he analyzed his vision, and how he would actualize it, probably not
a single person but the governor himself, would have been convinced on
the occasion that a civilian governor, with an eye for a second term, would
dare thread on such a dangerous terrain.
The implication of the governor’s project was that hundreds of street
traders would be chased away from the main roads to give way to free
flow of traffic while close to 500 buildings would be demolished to expand
some roads and beautify the streets.
The project would not also spare the ubiquitous car dealers who had
taken over a major portion of the Oyemekun, Alagbaka and Hospital
roads in Akure as there was a plan to outlaw the sale of vehicles by the
roadside within the city.
To effectively actualize his dream to make Akure, a real urban city centre,
Mimiko would also have a rough deal with artisans as they would no
longer be allowed to operate in makeshift workshops within the city,
under the master plan.
Mimiko noticed that he did not convince the journalists at the forum,
which was also attended by top editorial staff of some reputable print and
electronic media organizations, but he kept his dream to himself and set
out to work immediately.
Within a year, Iroko, as he is fondly called by his numerous admirers and
supporters within and outside the state, had successfully removed scores
of streets traders from the main roads and relocated them to a much
more convenient, comfortable and affordable markets which are beautifully
constructed by all standard.
In less than two years, the governor had replicated the facilities, tagged;
“Caring Heart Neighbourhood markets” in many parts of Akure and even
built bigger types in other major towns like Okitipupa, Ondo, Ikare, and
Owo among others.
Also within the period, the governor collapsed some ramshackle but
dilapidated primary schools which constituted terrible eyesore within the
capital city and in their place, emerged modern mega structures with up-
to-date facilities, and could pass for the best private school anywhere in
the country.
The expansion of the Arakale Road and the beautification of the Oba
Adesida/Oyemekun Road started and many cynics who thought the
project would consume the Mimiko administration, were disappointed as
everybody, whose property was affected, was adequately compensated.
The state government spent up to N1bn to pay compensation to all those
whose houses or shops were removed to pave the way for the expansion
of Arakale road which would also accommodate bus shelters like the
ones on Oba Adesida/Oyemekun Roads.
Today, the Oba Adesida and Oyemekun roads are not only a beauty to
behold, but a spectacle of all eyes at night with sparkling street lights
powered by heavy generators which automatically switch on in the
evenings and switch off at dawns.
Of significant importance, is to mention the fact that all automobile
dealers had been successfully relocated to a unique place known as
automart, while the auto-technicians also had a mechanic village
established for them.
Apart from his magic wand in the city centres, Mimiko’s administration
had also in the last three years, executed a number of projects chosen
by the people in about 308 rural communities across the state.
It started with 80 Quick- win priority projects in the first one year, and
rose to 230 projects in 230 communities in the second year and to 308
projects, across 308 communities in less than three years.
The Quick-Win projects, otherwise known as Confidence - Building
projects came on the platform of a 3i-initiative - Infrastructure, Institution
and Industry. The Infrastructural facilities provided in the 308
communities include basic health centre, town hall, block of classrooms,
skill acquisition centre, solar powered borehole, mono pump, open
market stalls, cassava processing industry, high court complex, rural
electrification, rural feeder roads and culvert.
In the area of human capital development, Governor Olusegun Mimiko
started by paying a whopping N1.4bn retirement benefits to scores of
pensioners who had disengaged from service between 1999 and 2010 as
either local government employees or as teachers.
The gesture was also extended to various organized market groups and
traders associations when the state’s micro-credit agency gave out over
N2bn as soft loans to hundreds of farmers, traders and artisans to
support their businesses to make them financially independent.
Obviously disturbed by the embarrassing rates of graduate unemployment
in the state, the Mimiko administration, also established very large
modern farm villages in each of the three senatorial districts of the state.
They are located in Auga-Akoko (Ondo North), Ore (Ondo South) and Epe
(Ondo central).
Accommodation with necessary facilities was provided in each of the
modern villages for all the graduate farmers who are expected to be
trained in the modern technique of farming. Apart from the monthly
stipend they were paid, proceeds from the farms of the young farmers
would be bought at competitive market prices by the state government in
order to encourage them after each harvest.
Worried by the declining standard of education in the country with Ondo
state not an exemption, the governor established the Quality Assurance
Agency. The agency was expected to standardise the quality of
education, and rescue the system from total collapse.It will also
reposition it for better service delivery by achieving qualitative and
sustainable service delivery through the process of whole school
evaluation.
The Mimiko administration, determined to tackle the disturbing maternal
mortality rate in the country and Ondo state in particular, introduced the
Abiye programme, a code name for an all round revolution in the health
care delivery targeting mothers and babies.
This initiative has been applauded beyond the shores of Nigeria. The
World Bank even described it as an innovation to be adopted by other
African nations if indeed the intractable problem of infant and maternal
mortality prevalent in Africa must be tackled
Abiye is a Yoruba word for safe motherhood which could also pass for a
prayer. Under the programme, any pregnant woman, right from the day of
registration at any of the government hospitals, is attached to a team of
medical personnel and doctor for close monitoring.
She is given a mobile phone on the bill of the state government, which
would enable her to seek and receive consistent and constant medical
attention anywhere, even in the remotest part of the state without buying
air time on her phone.
The innovation had allowed Mimiko to achieve the Millenium Development
Goals of improving maternal and infant health by tracking the four major
killers: severe bleeding, infections, hypertensive disorders and obstructed
labour.
A comprehensive tertiary specialist hospital known as ‘the Mother and
Child Hospital’ was also established to serve as referral centre for
complicated cases involving child health and delivery.
The hospital, cited in Akure and is being replicated in other major towns
in the state, specifically offers specialized medical care, including
complicated surgeries at no cost to the patients.
It is on record that the hospital had taken delivery of about 2, 000 babies
in the last two years of its establishment.
The civil servants were also not left out in the scheme of things as the
administration apart from ensuring regular payments of their salaries and
allowances, had also renovated and reconstructed the various office
complexes at the state secretariat to provide a conducive environment for
them to operate.
The administration had also in the last three years, been able to provide
conducive environment for business as it had checked the activities of
street urchins who usually harass and molest law abiding residents
before Mimiko was sworn-in as governor.
The governor’s exemplary performance was attested to last week by a
former Governor of the Old Ondo State, Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua
who expressed conviction that Mimiko will win the 2012 governorship
election in the state for the second term because of his remarkable and
unprecedented performances in the last three years.
Olumilua, who stated this during the wedding ceremony of his daughter,
Tolulope held at the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke-Ibukun in Ikere Ekiti,
said he was convinced that Mimiko will win the election despite all the
challenges currently being faced by him.
The erstwhile governor maintained that apart from the various projects
already executed by the governor which cut across all sectors, “Mimiko
will win because he is serving a living God”
Olumilua commended Mimiko for being steadfast and focused by refusing
to be distracted even in the face of open threats and conspiracy against
him from some self-seeking politicians who wanted to hijack the state at
all cost. He said Mimiko’s performances so far had been very impressive
and that his first-term score card was there for anybody to appreciate.
Hear him: “I am a living witness to the Iroko revolution in Ondo State,
hence my strong conviction that he had been able to earn the confidence
of the electorate though his impressive performance. I have visted Ondo
State on several occasions recently and I am particularly happy with the
transformation going on and I know that the people of the state are behind
him”.
Observers however believed that the Mimiko administration would be able
to achieve an all round transformation of the state in his first-term in office
only if the various contractors handling the roads projects could complete
them in record time.
Mimiko’s three years of intimidating transformation
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Examiner.com. Please avoid abusive, vulgar, racist or rude words. Our
editors regulate these comments. Any comment that violates this term
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