Have you gone round Ibadan lately and noticed the ongoing transformation of the city? Have you also noticed the new road projects that have been flagged off across the various senatorial districts?
Last week, City People went round Ibadan and saw the new legacy projects being embarked upon by Oyo State governor, Senator Ajimobi. “These are projects that have far reaching impact on the community and he has prioritised on those projects’ Yomi Layinka, the Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor on Communications & Strategy explained to City People. He said after the lull of the last few years, the governor has been able to engineer some new measures which include finding some financing for some of these projects that need to be done. He is at the point where he is consolidating on what he has done in the last 6 years and building on them. Such that we may end up with what he calls Legacy Projects. These are projects that will outlast him because of the depth and impact of those projects on the lives of the citizens. These are projects that are far reaching in their implications, for social good, and like he put it, they are projects based on his legendary emphasis on Quality.”
“For instance, the roads that the governor has constructed in the last 6 years are roads that will endure, because of the Quality and Depth of not only the design, but the quality of execution. So right now, he is pushing to define his government as one that has brought about the modernization of ethos into Oyo State. His challenge is to build on the legacies left by the Awolowos. He is leaning very heavily on that tradition that sought to see the future, and work towards that future, rather than be constrained by the immediate.”
What many people do not know is that Ajimobi has embarked on a series of projects. And there was roll out of about 5 major road projects across Ibadan and the state. One of it is the expansion of the road that leads from Agodi Gate, Oke Adu junction, all through Idi Ape down into Iwo Road, on to the Iwo Road Interchange. Although the road has already been dualised, the plan is to expand it into a 3 lane road on either side, making it a 6 lane road. That is the one within the city centre here.
“There is another road that goes from Agodi Gate all through old Ife Road, Loyola College , up to under the bridge, to burst out at Alakia, just around the Airport, to burst out on the new Ife Road. The whole stretch is also being expanded.
As you probably know, there is Ogunpa Market there, and the population of road users has grown exponentially, in the last decade or so and there is a perpetual hold up on those roads. And that is why government thought, hey, we need to expand this road; not to only facilitate movement, but to also take care of the health of the citizens, because so many lives have been lost due to exhaustion on highways, traffic congestion and so on.
Then, there is the Bashorun Road, from Idi-Ape. This is another project. It starts from Idi-Ape, it goes all through BCOS Broadcasting House, and then burst out at Akobo. From Akobo, it burst out to the Odogo Cantonment, the Military Barracks out there. That is another major road project that has called for attention forever because of the share quantum of human and vehicular traffic. “It is interesting how Ibadan, just like many cosmopolitan cities, keeps expanding. And the share volume of the people on that axis, is mind-boggling. In the last 30 years that the original road was constructed, the number of people who have put up buildings in that area, who have expanded their businesses are a lot. Yet they are still using that particular road. Unlike anything we ever knew before, that Bashorun-Akobo road has become something that was used to be an exclusive Lagos habit of leaving their homes at 5 o’clock in the morning, just to beat traffic, because of the share volume of people. And it is perpetually experiencing hold up. That is another major expansion project, which includes the construction or the redesigning of the bridge, and then the construction of a new one. So, two bridges are coming into that axis”.
“And then, there is the Eleyele-Ologuneru Road that goes to Eruwa. That is another major project. Again, I am sure the citizens of these areas that live around those roads are so prayerful, so thankful that finally one government has answered their prayers, particularly the Ologun eru Road and Akobo Road like I said to you. Over the years, every time on radio and TV programme you keep hearing people begging and pleading, for government to please come and open up these roads because of the huge volume of people who live in those areas and the inadequacies of the current road design to meet with the expanded demand of road users in those areas”.
“Even outside of town, there has been a flag-off, of the Saki Metropole Road, that goes through Saki Polytechnic. It is similar to what was done in the governor’s first term in Iseyin. In Iseyin, we also had a dual carriage way, going right through the city. For the first time in Iseyinland they had never had a dual carriage way until this government came into place. Saki is experiencing that same modernization efforts.
There are several other roads and projects coming on stream. But how will the Oyo State government fund these seemingly ambitious projects across all the senatorial zones, City People asked Layinka. “Funding is in place,” Yomi Layinka explained. “It takes a lot of financial engineering skills, which this governor has demonstrated over and over again. By that I mean the capacity to conceive of big and impactful projects and manage the financing in such a way that it does not strain the government and people beyond their capacity. Specifically in this instance, what the government has been doing is engaging contractors who have the Capacity and the ability to carry on such major projects with a financing mechanism that the state can bear. In other words, spreading out the risks, spreading out the costs without straining the state as to bring it down to its knees. So, it is a combination of these financial management elements, using internal resources, spanning out risks and investments, and getting the financing to the contractor – funded. That is where a critical question comes in: what kind of contractors are we using? We are essentially using contractors that have not only the technical but the financial wherewithal to carry out projects at that level. Projects that costs quite some sums requires contractors with the pedigree and technical capacity to dig deep enough to carry out such projects at those levels.
The trick is a combination of the governor’s long held notion about frugality and yet ambition, yet futuristic calculation about Return on Investment. Today, when we went out to inspect some projects, the governor said he does not intend to leave behind any debt profile of any unmanageable proportion for his successor. In other words, he is conscious enough to understand that whatever he is doing must be sustainable and for that reason, he is a deep thinking, calculating person. He has done an in-depth risk analysis to tell the people of the state let’s go there because I know I can do it.
