How Aiyedatiwa is reshaping Ondo – Adeniyan
By Julius Alabi, Akure
Ondo State Governor, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, has recorded significant strides across critical sectors of the economy in the 18 months since he assumed office, with his administration attributing the progress to prudent financial management and the implementation of its “OUR EASE” development agenda.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, stated this on Friday while addressing journalists in Akure on the achievements of the administration since Aiyedatiwa formally assumed office on February 24, 2025.
Adeniyan said the administration came into office with a commitment to promote ease of living, ease of doing business and ease of governance, noting that its interventions in infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, security, empowerment and public service reform were designed to place the people at the centre of governance.
He said the government had recorded substantial achievements across the sectors, adding that fiscal discipline and effective debt management had enabled the state to reduce its domestic debt profile by 82.6 per cent, which he described as the highest reduction recorded by any state in the country.
According to him, the improved financial position also enabled the administration to clear outstanding salary arrears owed to workers and former political office holders, as well as make significant progress in the payment of gratuities to pensioners.
In the health sector, Adeniyan said the administration had improved the remuneration of health workers to retain skilled personnel, expanded health insurance coverage to pensioners, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, while also upgrading infrastructure and equipment in hospitals and health centres across the state.
He disclosed that more than 2,000 health professionals had been recruited, while Ondo became the first state in the South-West to implement the enhanced CONMESS and CONHESS allowances for health workers, alongside the approval of a ₦1 billion Hospital Intervention Fund for the expansion and modernisation of healthcare facilities.
He added that ongoing projects include 100-bed capacity upgrades at hospitals in Ikare-Akoko, Ore and Okitipupa, as well as 50-bed capacity improvements at hospitals in Irele and Igbokoda, while more than 100 health centres had been renovated in less than two years.
The CPS said the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital had also been equipped with a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine, a 160-slice CT scanner, 3D digital mammography equipment, 4D ultrasound machines and digital X-ray facilities, while the Orange Health Insurance Scheme had been expanded to include public servants, informal sector workers and, for the first time, retirees and pensioners free of charge.
On road infrastructure, Adeniyan said more than 200 kilometres of roads had been completed within the period, while a 90-kilometre statewide road rehabilitation programme, allocating five kilometres to each of the 18 local government areas, was ongoing to ensure inclusive development.
He listed the newly flagged-off Akure Flyover Bridge along the Oyemekun-Oba Adesida Road as one of the major interventions aimed at tackling decades of traffic congestion, adding that major roads in Akure, Ondo, Owo, Ikare and Ore had been rehabilitated, with solar streetlights and drainage facilities provided in several locations.
Adeniyan also pointed to the simultaneous execution of three major intercity dualisation projects across the state’s three senatorial districts, Akungba-Ikare Akoko in the North, Akure-Idanre in the Central and Okitipupa-Igbokoda in the South as evidence of the administration’s commitment to balanced development.
He said the government had completed and commissioned the inherited Onyearugbulem-Irese Road flyover project in Akure and other inherited road projects, while rural roads were being upgraded through the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project and state-funded interventions to link farming communities with markets and reduce post-harvest losses.
In education, the governor’s spokesman said the administration had recruited more than 2,000 teachers, comprising 1,010 for public secondary schools and 1,100 for primary schools, while strengthening student support, technical and vocational education and digital learning.
He said the free school shuttle initiative had been revived, with buses and boats conveying pupils to and from school, while scholarships and bursaries were being paid more regularly, WAEC fees settled for public secondary school students and books, tablets and sports equipment distributed to schools across the 18 local government areas.
According to him, Aiyedatiwa recently increased subventions to tertiary institutions by 60 per cent, approved the implementation of the salary agreement between the Federal Government and university staff unions, cleared inherited salary arrears at Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, and committed over ₦1 billion to the construction of a new Senate Building at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo.
On urban renewal, Adeniyan said the administration was upgrading public spaces and strengthening water supply infrastructure, citing the rehabilitation of the Fasoranti Park and the Light-Up Ondo project, under which about 5,000 complete units of solar streetlights had been installed across major roads in Akure and other towns.
He said the Akure Water Supply and Sanitation Project, a component of the $223 million Nigeria Urban Water Sector Reform Programme, was progressing alongside renewed efforts on the Owena Dam project, with new pipelines being laid and the Omi Irorun Water Scheme delivering more than 50 boreholes to rural communities.
The administration, he added, was equally laying the foundation for improved electricity supply through the Light-Up project, Lucky Light Solar Programme, O’Datiwa Mass Metering Programme and the establishment of a state electricity regulatory commission, while the State Executive Council had approved a $1.6 million, 350-kilowatt hydropower project and a 7.5-megawatt gas-fired turbine.
On agriculture, Adeniyan said more than ₦10 billion had been committed to the sector, with over 500 young people trained and empowered in modern farming, while the Ondo State Cocoa Revolution and Management Board and a committee on compliance with the European Union Deforestation-Free Regulation had been inaugurated to strengthen the state’s cocoa industry and access to international markets.
He said the administration had also profiled 14,000 smallholder cocoa and oil palm farmers under the FAO GEF-7 programme across eight local government areas, while grain distribution, OSACA programmes, rural road development and support for farmers were targeted at boosting food production, reducing inflationary pressure and improving rural livelihoods.
Adeniyan said the government’s industrialisation drive was attracting investments into the proposed Ondo Deep Sea Port, refinery, Free Trade Zone and fertiliser plant, adding that the return of the Dangote Group and several investment agreements, including projects involving Backbone Infrastructure Nigeria Limited and Sunshine Infrastructure JV, reflected growing investor confidence in the state.
In the area of employment and empowerment, he said more than 6,000 workers had been recruited into critical sectors, including education, healthcare, security and agriculture, while 1,000 women had benefited from the O’Datiwa Skill-Up a Woman Initiative, with training in tailoring, catering, ICT and other vocational skills accompanied by start-up kits.
He added that the One Youth, One Skill Programme had trained hundreds of young people, while market women, artisans and small business owners had benefited from interest-free loans and grants under the Ondo Ease Fund, with the administration also appointing more young people into government.
On workers’ welfare and security, the CPS said civil servants now received their salaries on or before the 25th of every month, while pension payments had been sustained and deliberate monthly savings made towards clearing gratuity arrears, with about 10 years of outstanding gratuities reportedly cleared.
He added that the government had strengthened the Amotekun Corps through the recruitment of 500 additional personnel, improved welfare and facilities, distribution of over 100 operational vehicles to security agencies and the establishment of a modern Command and Control Centre, insisting that the administration would sustain its commitment to the “OUR EASE” mandate and complete ongoing projects while initiating new interventions to improve the lives of the people of Ondo State.
