Ondo to construct 700km roads to ease movement of farm produce

Babatunde Kolawole, the Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on Rural and Community Development, has disclosed the intention of the state government to construct a total of 700kilometres of rural roads in the agrarian communities to ease the movement of farm produce in the state.

Kolawole, who disclosed this in Akure while featuring on a media chat, tagged ‘The Platform’, organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Ondo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), therefore, said some of these roads would soon be awarded to the reputable contactors in road construction business.

According to him, about N2billion has been earmarked by the state government for the construction of these 700 kilometres of roads in the state.

The Special Adviser also said that international standard markets known as agro-logistic hubs would also be created across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state to boost the income generation of the farmers as that would help eliminate wastage in the chain.

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He also said the State Community and Social Development Agency (ODCSDA) has secured N783 million grant as interventions in 48 communities and six vulnerable groups since March 2022 under Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.

The former federal lawmaker, who also spoke on the giant strides of Governor Akeredolu in the rural communities transformation, noted that rural community and agricultural development remains one of the cardinal programmes in the developmental agenda of the present administration in Ondo state.

He highlighted various projects ranging from educational facilities, health care, provision of potable water, rural electrification, construction of box culverts and line drains to provision of solar street lights that had been successfully executed by the present administration in our rural communities to make life more meaning for the dwellers.

Kolawole, therefore, reaffirmed his loyalty to the governor saying his main preoccupation now is to deliver on his assigned mandate as envisioned by the governor.

According to him, “loyalty in politics counts all the time, but the prayer is that our loyalty should not be tempted.

“I’m only concern about this government and I don’t care about what who will be the next governor will give me tomorrow. All I see at the moment is this government and Akeredolu, and that is what we call loyalty.”

Kolawole, who also spoke on the forthcoming governorship election in the state, said “this election is between APC versus APC because PDP is dead in Ondo state. We are there to marche any political party that is still in existence.

“So, APC is the winning party come 2024 governorship election in Ondo state.”

BusinessDay reports that Babatunde was accompanied to the NUJ Correspondents’ Chapel by Wale Akinkuotu, the Administrative Secretary of the Directorate of Rural and Community Development; Engr. Femi, the State Project Co-ordinator of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) and Bosun Ogundipe, the General Manager of the Ondo State Community and Social Development Agency (OSCSDA).