Ondo State has been in the media in recent times. In the State popularly dubbed the Sunshine State, innovation pitched development approaches have made the state a cynosure and reference point for scholars of governance and development studies. This is not a mere statement of classic eulogy! The facts on the ground will convince the most ambitious critic. The truth remains to be seen that two and a half years into the Labour Party administration in the state, what is visibly on ground to be assessed suggests no coincidence or reign of the usual Nigerian politician.
As Dr. Abayomi Olusegun Mimiko, the Ondo State Governor himself puts it, the vision of the current Ondo State Government is “to harness the State’s abundant human and natural resources with a view to transforming the State into the most developed State in Nigeria and development reference point in Africa.” As a mark of seriousness in that direction, the administration from inception would not waste time in identifying with the nation’s Vision 20:2020 through the drafting of the State’s Vision 20:2020 document that was providentially adjudged by the National Planning Commission as the best in the South West.
Since then, the Government of Ondo State has allowed no one in doubt about its renewed quest to integrate and touch the lives of its indigenes and make Ondo State the business destination of choice for prospective business investors. Whereas, more and more sector investors are identifying and making entreaties to adopt the state as a new investment hub, the state governor on his part has continued to ensure greater innovative solutions to the business of governance.
Quite frankly, the Governor has evolved a new spirit in the state where the common belief is that God in His infinite wisdom brought the people of the Nigerian state together for a reason, and to him that reason was to harness the potentials of our human and natural resources to the advancement of our world. Hence, the man at the helm of affairs has continued to demonstrate that development is achievable, and that when properly handled, the instrument of governance could just be the needed tool to achieving social integration among people of the state.
And so, from the sophistication of the projects executed so far and the world-class style in which they are completed and served, the people of the Sunshine State have found themselves in a new era. The man popularly called ‘The Iroko’ by his pool of admirers has mounted the podium.
But the man at the rostrum is a man in a hurry! From the zest with which he has approached the matters of statecraft, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is clearly a man on a mission. The governor on many occasions has called on the elite class to sow the seed of greatness in the country by being responsible to the needs of today’s children and the next generations.
And as though responding to the lamentation by Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Central Bank governor, that “missed investments in young people’s intellectual and human potential are a missed opportunity for generations and also costly to reverse, both for youth and society”, Dr. Mimiko was prompt in concentrating his governance approach on the bid to tackle the rampant cases of maternal deaths and under-five mortality rate that was plaguing and dampening the hope of people of the state. Through the construction of the novel Mother and Child Hospital for women and children under 5 years who are being provided with free medical services, the ugly situation has not only been addressed but the Mother and Child Hospital, the first of its kind in the country, was adopted by the World Bank as a template for African states.
Not satisfied by the success of the health intervention, an indefatigable Mimiko stunned his critics when he vowed that “haven gotten the children to survive through our deliberate free mother and child hospital, we are already thinking of their future by constructing new generation mega schools to offer them education in a 21st century compliant environment”. To drive home this pledge, the governor immediately hit the ground and constructed a number of ‘Caring Heart Mega Primary Schools’ across the state and rehabilitated existing ones to meet the high standard he defined for himself.
Interestingly, the Sunshine State Governor has continued to maintain that his greatest achievement in the state has been that of social integration. “We have achieved social integration in our mother and child hospitals; in our hospitals, you see the wife of a messenger lying next to the wife of a bank executive in the same ward by choice. This school session by the grace of God, the child of the MD of Mother and Child (hospital) and the child of the cleaner will be in the same class by choice”, says the governor.
In addition, the administration has also built and is already operating the Gani Fawehinmi Health Diagnostic Centre, a specialized model health facility with latest state of-the-art equipment meant to service the state and the entire country.
Practically speaking, the untiring Governor has never slowed down on the tempo with which he started serving development to his people. Across every residential area in Akure, the state capital, one is visibly struck with the proliferation of Modern Neighbourhood Markets, all conceived and tastefully built by the Mimiko administration to boost economic activities. Also, there has being a deliberate effort on the part of government which has ensured the consistent provision of credit facilities to various artisan groups and market women in the state essentially aimed at improving the economy of the people.
Of note also is the International Automart Plaza constructed in Akure for those in the automobile sub-sector of the state’s economy. As it stands now, the penchant for orderly conduct of economic activities would soon see to the actualization of plans by the government to construct an unprecedented Builders’ Market in the state capital that can compete with its likes anywhere in the world.
The development model of Dr. Mimiko does not exclude the need to give employment to the productive sector of the state’s population. The governor has consistently harped on the need for youths in the state to find something meaningful to do and as well form themselves into co-operative groups that can make it easier for government to reach out to them. Just over two years on the saddle of governance, Dr. Mimiko has provided a lifeline for the unemployed by establishing Caring Heart Agricultural Villages across senatorial districts at Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area, Epe in Ondo East Local Government Area and also at Auga in Akoko North-East Local Government Area to create employment and mop up about 15,000 unemployed graduates in the state in a Participant-Ownership Scheme. A number of modern Neighbourhood Parks are also under construction across Akure municipal to provide recreation and encourage cordial co-existence. And to stimulate and functionally ensure the people reap from the effect of the administration’s interventions, the state government has aggressively embarked on opening up of rural areas and linking up of the urban ones through massive road construction and rehabilitation projects in all senatorial districts of the state.
Indeed, the Mimiko Administration believes that long after it is gone, the true measure of its success will be judged by the footprints it leaves on the sands of time. The administration is open to new ideas on how to move the state forward and it is therefore repository on the people to key into its efforts and together promote the collective legacy of the people. Afterall, they say, ISE LOOGUN ISE!
