Makinde Has Done Well for us in Ona Ara – Sanusi, LG Boss

Hon. Musibau Adesina Sanusi is the Executive Chairman of OnaAra Local government. This local government is among the 33 existing local government areas of Oyo State, Nigeria carved out from old Oluyole local government in 1989 by the then President General  Ibrahim Babangida. Its administrative headquarters is located in the town of Akanran.

Ona Ara local government area is bounded by Egbeda and Oluyole local government areas. The administration of this local government area is handled by the local government council whereas the legislative council of the area makes laws that govern the entire local government. In this interview with Rulers’ World, honourable Sanusi popularly called ‘Shaba’ explains in detail what he has been able to achieve since he came on board as the Chairman. Oyedapo Oyewole brings in the excerpts.

What have been your achievements so far as the Chairman?

​Let me first or foremost thank our amiable Governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde for the privilege and opportunity he gave me to serve the people in my local government. I cherish this privilege which I will never take for granted. Having said this, when I came on board, the first thing we tackled is the issue of insecurity, You know it is only in the atmosphere of peace that development can take place, in our efforts at tackling insecurities and strengthening our security personnel, on 13th September, 2020 we held an enlarged security stakeholders meeting where we had Head of Divisional Police Officers (DPOs), Operation Burst, NSCDC, Nigeria immigration Service (NIS), Department of State Security (DSS), Amotekun corps, Oodua Progressive Congress (OPC), Agbekoya, Vigilante, LLVG, Irorun Odua, the militants and the youths were in attendance. This summit was held at Ilaji Resort and it was fruitful. And that is the reason why our local government is one of the few local governments where government property was not destroyed by the youths during the ENDSARS protest in October, 2020.

​Not only that, we have purchased 15 units of motorcycles and handed them over to the vigilante groups, we rehabilitated and furnished a block of six rooms for the Amotekun security outfit and furnished other residential offices for the operation Burst. We are holding constant security meetings with all the security groups as well as donating a generating set for Akanranand Ogbere Divisional Police stations.

​As we all know that education is one of the cardinal programmes of Governor Seyi Makinde, we also take a cue from him by printing thousands of exercise books, school bags, chairs and tables to over 50 selected public primary schools in our local government.  We purchased UTME forms for the less privileged, sponsored five students of Ona Ara local government to Technical University (TECH-U) and another five to Colleges of Nursing and Midwifery. We have constructed a block of four units of modern toilet  with deep well at St. john Anglican Primary School, Idi-Ose and another block of four units with deep well Community Primary School Alaase Oluawo

In agriculture, we gave seedlings like yam tuber, maize and fertilizers to farmers to plant, we have established Stands oil farm plantation, distributed Covid-19 palliative to farmers. We have sponsored 100 youths to Nasarawa in collaboration with the State government for training on farming and we have provided 150 Acres farm land for them to exhibit what they have learnt. We have also trained and given empowerment materials like sewing machines, hair dryers, soap making equipment, shoe making and so on for 100 youths.

​On health, we have organized free medical care check upand surgical operation in conjunction with the State government tagged “Omi Tuntun Medical outreach”. We have provided free eye tests, glasses and drugs for the people. We purchased and distributed hand wash buckets, hand sanitizers and nose masks to all the market and people of this local government as well as fumigation of council secretariat and other public places.

Before we came on board, the whole secretariat of this council was bushy and it was an eyesore. We learnt that the last administration made it a habit of not coming to office; they chose to do governance somewhere else and abandoned this secretariat. When we came we swung into action by clearing the entire bush and giving the council a new facelift. The secretariat now wears a new look unlike before. Not only that, we are making the working environment conducive for the carrier officers to enhance their productivity and make their welfare our utmost priority.

​We received a warning letter from NIMET that our local government is one of those that will experience flooding during the raining period. We swung into action by dredging all the flood prone rivers in our local government, especially the AriyoBridge which has been creating unnecessary fear and nightmare for the people whenever it is raining. Others are Ogbere Tioyastream, Eku community near Idi-Ose stream, Jagun Idi-Irokostream, Oluawo, Alaase, Ogidi stream, Cocoa 3, Ogo-Oluwazone 6 streams, Omi stream, Abonde, Oke-Larodo and BashorunFajinmi stream. We have also graded some roads across the local government which includes Gbedeogun off Thy Will, Oniyefuncommunities with seventeen zones, Faosin/Osunola off Amuloko road, Idi-Osan/Tai/Palupo, Arowona to AmulokoOrisunbare, Olunloyo/Bashorun/Fajinmi/ Foworogun, opening of 15 kilometer road at Amurire/Baale/Balogun/Alakindevillages, construction of pedestrian bridge at Odo Omi and Foworogun Bridge.

Some of your colleagues are claiming that they have not been receiving allocation from the State government and that has been hindering their performances in office. If this is true then how do you get funds to execute all these you have mentioned?

​There is no time that the Oyo State government has not been releasing money for us to run our affairs at the local government level. Though the expectations of the people from us are high, some expect us to be sharing money as the politicians used to do during the last administration in the State. You will recall that about two years ago, the whole world was ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic and this has affected and is still affecting the economy. But we have to be thankful to Governor Seyi Makinde for his ingenuity in running the government which is why the Oyo State economy with dwindling allocation from the federal government is not much affected compared to other States of the federation. We have been trying to satisfy the needs of our people with the little we are getting. Even as I am talking with you, there is a community we call Babanla General, we have helped them to repair the borehole in this community that is not functioning and have bought a new generator for them to power it. The generator will be handed over to them today and we are also giving financial assistance to another community, Gbaremu-Ajia to aid the construction of a security building project in their community.

How will you describe Gov. Seyi Makinde’s administration in the last three years?

​Let me tell you Governor Seyi Makinde is truly a God sent man to Oyo State. He was sent in the sense that he has liberated the people from poverty and brought them prosperity. For that I think we the people of Oyo state owe him a lot of gratitude. He has virtually fulfilled all the promises he made during the campaign period. Look at the economy, there is steady improvement in it and this has been made possible because he has been consistently paying salaries of workers on or before the 25th of every month alongside payment of retirees, pensions and so on. This is assisting the economy because those that are collecting their salaries didn’t keep it in the bank but are taking it to the market. You will recall that Ibadan was recently adjudged as the second fastest growing economy.

We have to appreciate Gov. Makinde for that.

​Secondly, when he came on board, he stopped the payment of school fees by the students; he secured the ownership of LAUTECH Ogbomoso and reduced the tuition fee of the students. He has renovated all the primary health care in each of the 351 wards in the State and equipped them with drugs; he constructed a Bus terminal and bought the new buses and so on.

This administration has no doubt surpassed all its predecessors in terms of achievements.

What advice do you have for the people in your local government and Oyo State as a whole?

​First let me once again appreciate the Governor on behalf of the people of Ona Ara local government, legislative arms, traditional rulers, career officers and other political appointees because of what he has done for us so far. We have never had it so good. There was an administration that tagged us Igedepeople before but with the sense of belonging that Gov. Makindehas given us, Ona Ara has become a local government that every other local governments envy because of the development that is going on here.

Look at the Ajia road, Odeyale road, ICTC at Ajia and the latest one the Air Force base.

The road from Olorunsogo – Kajola is being dualized. This road was abandoned by the past administrations in the State and Gov. Makinde is doing it because of his belief that the road is important to the people not minding the fact that it is a federal road. I can assure you that this road with the spate of work going on will be completed and commissioned before the next general elections. I want to appeal to every citizen in Ona Ara who is yet to collect their permanent voter’s card to quickly do so because this is the instrument that we will use to re-elect Gov. Makindefor second term.

​I also want to enjoin the people in Oyo State to think of the state of the infrastructure and economy before Gov. Makindecame on board. They should think of Moniya-Iseyin road; Oyo-Iseyin road; Ogbomosho-Iseyin and other roads being constructed. They should think of the regular payment of salary and development in education, health care programmes and so on. If they want all these to continue they should support the re-election of Gov. Seyi Makinde.