Former Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperatives Services in Ondo State, Mrs Yetunde Adeyanju
A former commissioner for community development and cooperatives services in Ondo State, Mrs Yetunde Adeyanju, has regretted that there is nothing to celebrate in the 50-year journey of Ondo State
Rather, Adeyanju, who served in the Olusegun Mimiko administration, said the moment calls for a sober reflection by all the citizens of the state.
In contrast, however, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa had maintained that the state has witnessed significant strides in all sectors in the last 50 years of the creation of the state
The old Ondo State, now bifurcated into Ondo and Ekiti States, was created on Tuesday 3rd February, 1976 from the defunct Western State, by the Gen Murtala Mohammed military administration.
But Adeyanju, told journalists in Akure on Tuesday: “Today’s celebration should be a call for sober reflection, a day that stakeholders in Ondo State will come together and think of a developmental blueprint to develop the state.
“The truth is that Ondo State is behind, the state is the least in the entire Southwest states. The stakeholders, our fathers and mothers should rise up and do something to move the state forward.
“We thank God that the killings, the insecurity has gone down. But for this 50th anniversary, honestly, there is nothing for us to celebrate in Ondo State.
“Ondo State is behind all the Southwest states, if you go to Ekiti, Osun, Ogun and Oyo States, you will agree with me that there is nothing for us to celebrate in Ondo State.
“They, (stakeholders, our fathers and mothers) should rise up to compliment the executives so that something can come up. We can have a developmental blueprint to drive the state forward.
“Like I have said, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has tried in the area of security, but when it comes to infrastructural development, without missing words, he needs to step up his game. The governor needs to step up his game.
“The governor (Aiyedatiwa) needs to free himself from his handlers and step up his game.
“I was expecting that today we’ll be talking about commissioning of projects. I was expecting that the Onyearugbulem project that was started by his former boss, late Oluwarotimi Akeredolu should be commissioning today.
“It’s two years in government, I was expecting that he should be commissioning the Oda and other roads today.
“Honestly, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has to step up his game.
“For me, as a citizen of Ondo State, as a politician, I’ve been part of governments in the past, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa needs to step up his game, that’s all I can say because when you are talking about celebrating of anniversary, we’ve celebrated anniversary in the past in Ondo State.
“Anniversary celebration should come with projects commissioning, it should come up with showcasing of what the government has done. But what people are talking about is street lights and all of that.
“I was part of celebration of Ondo at 40, and I knew, I can remember vividly what we did. In our 100 days in office, we commissioned Mother and Child Hospitals. We commissioned Mega schools, we commissioned projects in all the 203 wards health centres.
“So my advice to Ondo State is that stakeholders should come up, they should engage the executives, this is our state, and this is our project.
“Ondo State is our project. I’m expecting that the stakeholders of Ondo State should collaborate together to develop the state so that we can meet up with other states in the Southwest.
“Ondo State is our business, it is a PLC that we need to develop together.”
