Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has declared that his administration is set to make Iseyin, located in the Northern part of the state, the solid minerals development capital of Nigeria.
Makinde, who stated this at the 41 days fidau for the late Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdulganiyu Adekunle Salau, Ajinese Ologunebi I, held at the Iseyin District Grammar School, said that his administration would focus on tourism and solid minerals development if re-elected into office in 2023.
He maintained that his policy document, Oyo Roadmap for Accelerated Development, 2023-2027, which is already being prepared ahead of the reopening of the campaign window, will capture tourism and solid mineral development as viable tools for achieving the economic expansion agenda of the administration.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as saying that his administration would work out how to derive benefits from the Ikere Gorge Dam and other tourist attractions across the state.
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At the event, which had in attendance the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Ariwoola; the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Barr. Bayo Lawal; legal luminary, Ahmed Raji, SAN, and many government functionaries, the governor described the late Aseyin as an individual who loved Iseyin and did his best to attract development to the town.
Governor Makinde, who stated that his administration’s decision to connect Iseyin to all other zones of Oyo State through road infrastructure was not unconnected with its plan to make Iseyin the centre of the state and a solid minerals development hub in the country, noted that the administration had completed the 65 kilometres Moniya-Iseyin Road, while the 76 kilometres Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road had gone beyond 50 per cent.
The administration was also constructing the Oyo-Iseyin Road in the same axis, he said, even as he declared that the resuscitation of the Ikere Gorge Dam was a top priority project for the administration and that it would receive attention once funds were available.
He equally maintained that the Iseyin General Hospital was among the hospitals captured in the French Government Intervention Programme for the healthcare sector in the state.
