Ondo Records 82.6% Debt Reduction as Aiyedatiwa Unveils 18-Month Scorecard
•Says 200km roads completed, 6,000 jobs created
Fidelis David in Akure
The Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said that his administration has achieved an 82.6 per cent reduction in the state’s domestic debt profile within 18 months in office, describing the feat as one of the clearest indications of its commitment to fiscal discipline and sustainable development.
The disclosure was made in Akure yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Ebenezer Adeniyan, at the maiden edition of the quarterly media briefing on the activities of the Aiyedatiwa administration.
According to him, the debt reduction, which he described as the highest percentage recorded by any state in the country, was achieved alongside the payment of inherited salary arrears, pensions and outstanding gratuities.
Adeniyan said the administration had anchored its programmes on the ‘OUR EASE’ agenda, designed to deliver “ease of living, ease of doing business and ease of governance” to residents. He said the government had in the last 18 months focused on sectors capable of directly improving the lives of citizens while laying the foundation for long-term economic growth.
On healthcare, the governor’s spokesman said more than 2,000 health professionals had been recruited, while Ondo became the first state in the South-west to implement enhanced CONMESS and CONHESS allowances for health workers.
He noted that the government had approved a N1 billion Hospital Intervention Fund and upgraded health facilities across the state, while the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital had been equipped with modern diagnostic facilities, including a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine and a 160-slice CT scanner.
He said the state had also expanded its Orange Health Insurance Scheme to cover public servants, informal-sector workers, retirees and pensioners free of charge, while more than 100 primary healthcare centres had been renovated. Adeniyan further said the state’s health outcomes had continued to improve, with Ondo recently recognised nationally for its performance in health transformation.
The administration, he said, had also completed more than 200 kilometres of roads within the period under review, while a 90-kilometre rehabilitation programme, with five kilometres allocated to each of the 18 local government areas, was ongoing.
Adeniyan said the government had simultaneously commenced three major intercity dualisation projects across the three senatorial districts: Akungba-Ikare in the North, Akure-Idanre in the Central District and Okitipupa-Igbokoda in the South. He added that the newly flagged-off Akure Flyover Bridge along Oyemekun-Oba Adesida Road was designed to tackle longstanding traffic congestion in the heart of the state capital.
In education, the governor’s spokesman said more than 2,000 teachers had been recruited for public primary and secondary schools, while scholarships, bursaries, WAEC fee payments, learning materials and school transportation had been expanded. He disclosed that government had also increased subventions to tertiary institutions by 60 per cent and cleared inherited salary arrears owed workers of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo.
Adeniyan said the government’s urban renewal efforts had resulted in the installation of about 5,000 solar streetlights across major roads and towns, while projects to improve water supply and sanitation were being implemented. He said renewed attention was also being given to the long-neglected Owena Dam project, alongside the construction of new water pipelines and boreholes in rural communities.
On electricity, he said the administration had approved a $1.6 million, 350-kilowatt hydropower project and a 7.5-megawatt gas-fired turbine to power government facilities, while transformers were being distributed to communities.
He added that programmes such as the Lucky Light Solar Programme and O’Datiwa Mass Metering Programme were aimed at reducing the burden of unreliable electricity on households and businesses.
In agriculture, Adeniyan said more than N10 billion had been committed to the sector, with the government opening up farmland, supporting farmers and attracting investors into agriculture and agro-processing. He said the administration had inaugurated the Ondo State Cocoa Revolution and Management Board and profiled 14,000 smallholder cocoa and oil palm farmers under the FAO GEF-7 programme.
The government, he added, was also pursuing an aggressive industrialisation drive through investments in the Ondo Deep Sea Port, refinery, Free Trade Zone and fertiliser plant. According to him, the return of the Dangote Group to the state and several investment agreements, including a proposed 500,000 barrels-per-day refinery and other major industrial projects, were indications that Ondo was increasingly positioning itself as an investment destination.
On employment and empowerment, Adeniyan said more than 6,000 people had been recruited into critical sectors including education, healthcare, security and agriculture. He added that the government had trained and empowered 1,000 women under the O’Datiwa Skill-Up a Woman Initiative, while youths had also benefited from the One Youth, One Skill programme and various grants and interest-free loans under the Ondo Ease Fund.
On security, Adeniyan said the government had distributed more than 100 operational vehicles to security agencies, recruited 500 additional personnel into the Amotekun Corps and established a modern Command and Control Centre. He said the interventions had strengthened security operations and helped keep Ondo among the peaceful states in the country.
He said the administration remained committed to completing ongoing projects and initiating new ones, stressing that the ultimate objective of the “OUR EASE” agenda was to build a government that “works and delivers for the people of Ondo State.”