This essay was submitted by Daniel Taiwo.

Oyo, usually referred to as Oyo state to distinguish it from the city of Oyo, is an inland states in south-western Nigeria, with its capital at Ibadan. It is bounded in the north by Kwara State, in the east by Osun State, in the south by Ogun State and in the west partly by Ogun State and partly by the Republic of Benin.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Oyo State. The climate in the state favours the cultivation of crops like maize, yam, cassava, millet, rice, plantains, cocoa, produce, cashew. The economy of the state is based primarily on Agriculture. The state is also richly blessed with natural resources of which minimal efforts have been made to tap into these vast resources.

According to globaljournals.org, 89.2% of citizens have low income level, 75.0% experienced low life expectancy, 67.5% had low rate of employment and 58.3% had poor housing condition. 52.5% were affected by poor nutrition, 45.8% experienced high rate of illiteracy and 42.5% had overpopulation rate.

The goal of this plan is to open up a road-map tailored to meet and address the state’s long and short term goal. The primary aim of my decision to govern Oyo state and provide solutions to problems in major and critical areas of the state.

I must state that I can’t do this on my own as this a collective effort to take the state to greater level and be a pacesetter to all other states in the country.

FOREWORD

Oyo state although blessed with vast amount of resources and man power, has 89.2% of its citizen as low income earners, 45.% experienced high illiteracy level, a GDP of $29.8 billion, and a debt profile of $150 billion evidently shows that Oyo state, although richly blessed, suffer from gross mismanagement of resources. The ultimate goal of this blue print is to show you the plan to make Oyo state great again in all areas.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture, although the main economic strength and occupation is not fully developed to the optimal level. Agriculture in Oyo state is mainly subsistence farming characterized by farmers with crude implement such as hoes and cutlasses. This poses a great deal as farmers barely have enough to feed on, talk less of having produce to sell. The following are some problems of the agricultural sector in the state impeding the growth and the solutions which will be addressed with topmost priority on assumption of office.

CHALLENGES:

• Lack of funding of most Extension activities
• Shortage of extension service staff
• Lack of mobility for transport of produce
• Illiteracy
• Farm produce processing problem
• Unavailability/ inadequate storage facilities
• Decrease in available lands for farming due to urbanization
• Inadequate access to mechanized farming equipment.

REFORMATION STRATEGIES:

• Education of farmers on the use of mechanized farming equipment and machinery.
• Partnership with international and local Research institutes to develop enhanced species.
• Increment of Agriculture budget allocation from 2.5% to 5% within 6 months of assumption of office.
• Provision of mechanized machinery to farmers at low repayment rates.
• Provision of farm settlements

EDUCATION

Presently the State has 2,004 public schools, 971 private nursery/primary schools, 969 public secondary schools including 7 schools of Science and 57 private secondary schools. Despite this large number of school facilities, it is barely enough to provide to cater for all the educational needs of the children in the state, my vision for the state is to provide free education up to the senior secondary school level within a span of four years. I cannot achieve this alone, I need the collective effort of all state holders in the educational sector.

At the moment, 22% of the budget is being allocated to education of which I plan to increase to 30%.. Schools in Oyo state are currently dwindling from standard and this is one of the rot my administration seeks to repair. Generally, schools have a Teacher to student ratio of 1:45 which my administration plans to bring to 1:30 to reduce congestion on educational facilities

CHALLENGES

• Inefficient and inadequate number of staff.
• Low budget financing for education.
• Inadequate infrastructure to cater for the rising population in Public schools.
• Low remuneration for staffs.
• Irrelevant and non-globally streamlined curriculum.
• Indifference education by students due to wrong mindset formation

REFORMATION STRATEGIES

• Development of more concise and technically streamlined curriculum to equip students with necessary skill sets for employability.
• Periodic training of staff, by partnership with both local and international organizations offering professional development to staff at all level.
• Offering of scholarships to brilliant students to ensure competition.
• Implementation of Teacher/pupil ratio of 1:30.
• Seek support from alumni for development of schools.

The importance of the educational sector cannot be over emphasized as it is the foundation of a great future for the students. During my administration, education related issues will be given great priority and will be thoroughly addressed.

HEALTH

The government of any state has a very crucial part to play in the standard of living and the general well-being of her citizens. The state currently boasts of Hospitals health care centre, private hospitals, research labs. Unfortunately, some of the infrastructure and facilities in the aforementioned are currently in despair, and either needs to be fixed or completely replaced.

CHALLENGES OF THE HEALTH SECTOR

• Inadequate infrastructure to cater for the growing needs of the people in the state.
• Inadequate number of qualified personnel staff, to meet the rising demand in the health care sector.
• Low health standard by private owners of Healthcare standards.
• Unavailability of essential drugs, equipment and machinery in primary health care centres.

REFORMATION STRATEGIES

• Partnership with international bodies such as the World Health Organization (W.H.O) to periodically train more personnel, and work together to work out standards for the healthcare sector.
• Upgrade of machinery and equipment needed I primary healthcare centres.
• Frequent professional develop and on-the-job training for personnel by Health organizations.
• Accessing and renovating health care centres.
• Improve availability of quality drugs in the state.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The infrastructures of a state play very crucial roles in the overall development of a state. The infrastructures include water supply, roads, electricity supply, housing, facilities in health and educational sectors. Despite the importance of these infrastructures in everyday life, a lot of people lack access to the basic amenities, such amenities includes lack of access to good road network for farmers, lack of access to electricity supply for those in rural areas, erratic supply of electricity for those with access to electricity. Other challenges include lack of access to clean, healthy and affordable water in the state. Neglect of any aspect of a state’s infrastructure will tell greatly on the Standard of living of the state residents.

The major reformation will be discussed as follows:

TRANSPORTATION

• Improvement of existing road transport networks, and further creation and improvement of route to farm settlements and other key areas.
  • Encourage private investment in the transport sector.
  • Reformation the road transport services to make it cost effective.

WATER SUPPLY

• Upgrade of the reformation of the State water co-operation to ensure availability of clean and affordable water.
  • Construction of boreholes and wells in rural areas.
  • Ensure good water standard in the state by accessing existing key holders such as Water factories.

ELECTRICITY

• Utilize renewable sources of energy for electricity creation.
  • Construction of girds connecting rural areas.
  • Encouragement of foreign and private investments in the power sector.
  • Reformation of the state electricity board to make it cost effective.

HOUSING

• Creation of new housing projects available at very reduce price to all state resident.
  • Establishment of state housing boards to oversee the development of state housing scheme.
  • Encouragement of private investment in housing schemes in the state.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this plan is to introduce my plan in key areas, of which the current administration wasn’t able to achieve partly due to indifference to the plight of the state residents and also due to personal interests at hand.

I want to do more and achieve more, the administration of the state gives me position to address key issues impeding the growth of the state. I must confess that no matter how great a plan is, if it’s not people backed, it will fail. On this note I earnestly covet your support and votes during the next coming election. Let us all rise to make Oyo state the PACESETTER again.

Taiwo Daniel. (Governorship aspirant 2023)