What We Have Been Able To Do In The Last 7 Years – OGUN Gov, Senator IBIKUNLE AMOSUN Reveals

What He Told OGUN House Of Assembly

This weekend in Lagos, Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun will be honoured at the City People Awards for Excellence for his remarkable work on his state. Below is an account of what SIA has been able to do in the last 7 years.

AFFORDABLE QUALITATIVE EDUCATION:

In the last 6 years, we have made clear our commitment to the delivery of affordable and qualitative education. This has invariably led to a series of reforms and it is encouraging to see that our efforts have been yielding positive results.  For instance, the innovation of Termly Unified Examinations in our public Primary and Secondary schools as well as Government Science and Technical Colleges has greatly enhanced the standard of education in our schools such that enrolment is steadily rising as is the Higher Education Potential of our learners.

I am aware, that despite the significant annual investments in education, more still needs to be done to improve the quality of education. The global perspective in the education sector as declared under the Sustainable Development Goals focuses on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all by the year 2030. We are glad to note that our agenda is in tandem with this global agenda; and we remain resolute that no child will be left behind.

Several of our Model Colleges are ready to come on stream having already commissioned them in February, 2016 when our State celebrated her 40th Anniversary. The Akin Ogunpola Model College, Ewekoro commenced operations for the 2016/2017 academic year with the acceptance of 84 students into Junior and Senior Secondary School.  Our administration is poised to open 6 more colleges in 2017.

Successes in the Education sector have not been confined to our secondary schools alone. In October 2016, the Institute for Governance, Research, Leadership and Technology adjudged Olabisi Onabanjo University to be the Best State University in Nigeria based on its achievements in Infrastructure development and management, academic staff among other measures.

EFFICIENT HEALTH CARE DELIVERY

As we strive to reposition the Health Sector in Ogun State, we have adopted a two-pronged approach that takes into account of the needs of our population and seeks to enhance our capacity to provide the services they require.

We scaled up our successful ‘Araya’ health insurance program, which seeks to offer healthcare cover to the poorest 25% of the population, focusing on pregnant women and children under 5. It is now available across the State.  Since July 11, 2016 when ‘Araya’ was re-launched, a total of 4,123 pregnant women and children under 5 years of age have been enrolled. The State has been paying monthly capitation to the hospitals providing a basic package of care to our people.  Our Araya programme is the model being celebrated by the National Health Insurance Scheme and has been adopted as the benchmark for sub-national level engagement.

In October, 2016, the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Centre for Disease Control, USA conducted a performance review of HIV/AIDS management in Nigeria and awarded Ogun State as the Best in HIV/AIDS service quality improvement in Nigeria.

The Ministry of Health, with support from our partners, has distributed 59 solar powered refrigerators to Primary Health Care centres across the State to improve vaccine storage to prevent out-break of childhood diseases in the State, particularly polio.

We have distributed Infant Incubators, Automated delivery beds, Anaesthetic machines, Blood banks and other equipment to some State Hospitals across the three senatorial districts.   Through our Malaria Control programmes, in 2016 so far, 69,293 insecticide treated nets have been distributed and 179,997 doses of high quality anti-malaria medicines provided. In addition 44,333 women attending antenatal care have benefited from Malaria Prevention Treatment.

Whilst acknowledging the achievements outlined above, there is still more work to be done to improve our Primary Health Care centres, renovate existing secondary facilities and build modern centres as part of the Mission to Rebuild Ogun State.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION / INDUSTRIALIZATION

In Agriculture, we continue to strive towards providing raw materials for large scale agro-industry and the establishment of value chains, generating employment and ensuring food security. I believe the following achievements are worthy of note:

Owowo Model Farm Estate: The Model Farm Estate was formally commissioned during the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the creation of Ogun State earlier this year. The Farm Estate was established as a Youth Empowerment Initiative of the present administration, to promote youth involvement in agriculture. The programme provides entrepreneurship training in poultry, fisheries and arable farming. The Estate has been designated as one of the farms that will supply eggs and fish for the Home Grown School Feeding Programme that is set to commence in the State imminently.

Pullet Production: We raised 15,000 Day-old chicks to Point of Cage at Ajegunle Farm Settlement, Ilaro and Ijebu Igbo Stations and sales have commenced. Presently 9,000 Point of Cage birds have been sold to Poultry farmers in the State at highly subsidized rates, to promote egg production and consumption in the State.

Cashew Crop Plantation Projects and Oil Palm Plantation:

The 50ha Cashew Plantation at Afon in Imeko-Afon Local Government; the 50ha of Oil Palm at Ipokia and 50 Ha Cocoa plantations at Alagbagba in Odeda Local Government Areas of the State were maintained. The plantations were established by this administration as a legacy project and to resuscitate the cash crop sub-sector in the State

Working together with Africa Agricultural Technological Foundation (AATF), we organised our farmers to benefit from the mechanisation of cassava production which has led to lower cost of production and an improved yield. We have signed on over 1000 ha of land for this project to date.

FORESTRY

Three new forest ranges have been established at Ijebu-Igbo, Ago-Iwoye and Molafara in addition to existing ones, as part of effort of the State Government to curb illegal logging activities in its forest reserves.

About 600,000 forest tree seedlings were planted for distribution to interested members of the public and for the establishment of a 350ha forest plantation. About 231ha of forest plantation has also been established in the State.

We continue work on the Forestry Landscape Restoration Project located at Aworo and Imeko Reserves in conjunction with Lafarge-Holcim, NSIA and some International Developmental partners.  Funding for the feasibility study has been secured and the PPP vehicle between Lafarge-Holcim, NSIA an Ogun State Government has been approved.

Our Administration is set to roll-out another agricultural loan program through Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS). This is an important step towards boosting agricultural production and improving the standard of living of farmers in the State,

COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

The industrialization drive of the Ogun State Government has continued to yield positive results, as 21 major companies recently commenced operations in the State and will be commissioned in the coming months. Some of these companies include CDK in Shagamu, Coca-Cola Bottling Company (NBC) and SAB Miller in Obafemi-Owode, Rites Foods Limited in Ososa, Innoplas Company in Ogijo, Coronation Power & Gas Limited in Sango, Food, Agro & Allied Industries Limited in Sango, OLAM Nigeria Limited in Obafemi-Owode, Celplas in Sagamu, and Drury Industries Limited, a multi – Purpose Warehouse Project in Agbara. Thus, bringing the total number of industries in Ogun State since the beginning of our Administration to a total 116.

Our Administration will continue to engage with the organised private sector through our quarterly meetings with Manufacturers, Trade Associations and through the Annual Breakfast Meeting with captains of industry with a view to protecting their investments in the State whilst attracting new ones.

This year, as we continued to provide an enabling environment for the public and private sectors to thrive, we successfully hosted the following national conferences:

-National Council of Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED)

-8th meeting of the National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment (NCITI)

-Joint Tax Board (JTB)

-Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

We will continue to work on improving our ranking from Number 4 to Number 1 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business sub-national report in the State. We will pursue this by bringing together all key ministries and agencies of the State to improve our responsiveness in the 4 key stages in the life of a business as identified by the World Bank. We will do this in consultation with the private sector in order to create a more conducive enabling environment for our current and future investors.

v          May I also seize this opportunity to commend our multi-lateral agency partners which include German Agency for International Development (GIZ), World Bank Group, French Development Agency (AFD), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who have been true partners in progress in our mission to rebuild Ogun State.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING & URBAN RENEWAL

*Site and Services construction work on President Muhammadu Buhari Estate has been completed and we have started selling plots to potential residents. We have also commenced the construction of prototype houses in the estate. We expect this activity to further stimulate land sales in the coming year.

We expect to commence the sand filling for our MITROS City project in Isheri as well as the realignment of Ogun River in the coming months. This project is a significant step in our efforts to positively affect the demographic in the State and attract residents across all segments of the socio-economic spectrum.

New Makun City continues it’s progress with the first phase of infrastructure completed and 60 hectares of residential and commercial plots fully subscribed. We will build an additional 300 houses for sale in 2017 and complete the construction of infrastructure linking commercial and residential areas as well as a 9 hole golf course for residents.

At MTR Gardens, Isheri, we have 150 carcasses nearing completion. We expect to add another 48 units to this number and sell them all in the coming year. We will be expanding infrastructure within MTR including the construction of 10KM of internal roads. We will also construct a 2.5KM internal road network around Riverwiew Estate, Isheri

The OPIC, Agbara project continues to progress. New Dawn Estate, which will provide 55 terraced bungalows and 50 detached bungalows is almost ready for commissioning.

We also successfully completed the construction of 12 kilometres of quality road networks at OPIC Estate, Agbara / Igbesa

We will commence the development of more affordable housing for lower income earners in Alamala and Siun in 2017.

ENVIRONMENT

We are a step closer to realizing our aspiration to turn the waste generated in the State into energy. Funding of 300,000 Euros has been secured from the EU for a feasibility study to help prepare this project to attract investment in the State.

We have refined the implementation of Municipal Waste Management, for a significant improvement in ensuring the level of Industrial Pollution Control.

Relief items were distributed to victims of rainstorm disasters at Abigi, Ibiade and other locations in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area in March, 2016.

RURAL & INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT / EMPLOYMENT GENERATION:       

Our resolve to develop our rural communities remains unwavering. In light of this, we have signed up for the World Bank’s Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP), which will provide Ogun State with access to a US $60million development fund to cover 500km of roads. We have surveyed and drawn up designs for the immediate implementation of the first 100 roads covering over 300km for the first phase of RAMP implementation.

In addition, we have been working with the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) and GIZ to establish guidelines for the Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework for rural electrification including the siting of a pilot project at Gbamu-Gbamu, in Ijebu East LGA. We have also commenced training and capacity building to roll this out in many other LGA/LCDAs across the State. This is towards building a solid foundation for sustainable rural electrification through a mini-grid in the State

The proposed Light Railway for the State has moved closer to becoming a reality as we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the construction giant, Messrs CRCC/CCECC that will handle the project. Our Feasibility and Environmental Impact Assessment reports have also been completed. We expect the groundbreaking to take place in 2017. This will no doubt be a significant step in our urban renewal drive and further boost commercial activities in the State.

*RUWATSAN, an agency under the Ministry of Rural Development has expanded its ‘Open Defecation Free’ (ODF) project in Odeda LGA. We have obtained ODF certification for 80 communities with 145 new communities awaiting certification. This has been achieved through concerted advocacy, training, building of toilets and sanitation stations across the communities.

We have obtained 15 steel fabricated smoking kilns for distribution to fish processing farmers to simplify and improve the efficiency of smoking their fish for a fast growing industry.