The French Government has released 55m euros (N23,626,495,266.00) to Oyo State to expand and improve its healthcare facilities.
Seyi Makinde, the state governor, who disclosed this at the 41st fidau prayers for the late Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdulganiyu Adekunle Salau, Ajinese Ologunebi I, at the weekend, said France gave the fund to further improve the health sector in Oyo State.
Makinde told the gathering that the Iseyin General Hospital was among the hospitals captured in the French Government intervention programme.
The governor, who was responding to a request by Ahmed Raji, a senior lawyer and indigene of the town that the government should fix the Iseyin General Hospital, affirmed that the “Iseyin hospital was among those to be remodeled. “It is one of the projects we plan to execute; t is a matter of time and everything will be sorted out.”
The governor said his administration was working to make Iseyin, located in the northern part of the state, the solid minerals development capital of Nigeria. He added that it would focus on tourism and solid minerals development if re-elected into office in 2023.
The governor stated that his policy document, Oyo Roadmap for Accelerated Development, 2023-2027, which is already being prepared ahead of the reopening of the campaign window, will capture tourism and solid mineral development as viable tools for achieving the economic expansion agenda of the administration.
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He also said the present administration would work out how to derive benefits from the Ikere Gorge Dam and other tourist attractions across the state, adding that the resuscitation of the Ikere Gorge Dam was a top priority for the administration.
The Ikere Gorge Dam is capable of generating electricity for the people, giving potable water, and boosting agriculture.
Makinde stated that his administration’s decision to connect Iseyin to all other zones of Oyo State through road infrastructure was because of its plan to make Iseyin the centre of the state and a solid minerals development hub in Nigeria.
He noted that his government has completed the 65 kilometres Moniya-Iseyin road, while the 76 kilometres Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso road has gone beyond 50 percent and also the construction of the Oyo-Iseyin road on the same axis.
At the event, which had in attendance the acting chief justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola; the deputy governor of Oyo State, Bayo Lawal; legal luminary, Ahmed Raji, and many government functionaries, the governor described the late Aseyin as an individual who loved Iseyin and did his best to attract development to the town.
He said, “We need to thank God for a day like this because we are celebrating the life of our departed Kabiyesi. I don’t think I have come across any individual who loved Iseyin like the departed Aseyin of Iseyin. The last time I came here for a condolence visit, I stated that it was on the sick bed that he signed the land document for the LAUTECH Faculty.
“I can also remember that when I came to deliberate with him on how we can have Iseyin as the centre of Oyo State, I told him that we want to link Ogbomoso to Iseyin because Saki is already linked to Iseyin and he was very happy. He showed interest and said the road we are talking about, which is Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso, was the route his forefathers passed when they were trading with other places. I told him how serious we are and promised that it won’t become an abandoned project.
“Now, I am happy that, as of today, we have done beyond 50 percent of that project.”
The governor declared that while his government would continue to deliver on its electioneering promises till the last day of the first tenure of the administration, more developmental projects will come to Iseyin and the entire Oyo State if was re-elected governor in 2023.
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