MAKINDE – High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Grassroots Development || Muftau Gbadegesin

MAKINDE – High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Grassroots Development

 

By Muftau Gbadegesin

 

By the time late Senator Abiola Ajimobi handed over the reins of power to Governor Seyi Makinde in 2019, the democratic dividends that had long become elusive at the grassroots had returned with undeniable evidence, accompanied by promises of more.

 

Indeed, across all thirty-three local governments and the local council development areas, most council chairmen at that time had embarked on several critical and audacious projects that connected the dots of people’s worries and concerns, with a marching order from the governor to ensure their completion.

 

For instance, several inner and important roads had been paved, motorized boreholes had been dug, schools reconstructed, and most inhabitants of those areas had started to imagine a better life under Governor Seyi Makinde, an oil tycoon turned politician.

 

Under late Abiola Ajimobi, council chairmen enjoyed relative autonomy: they could prepare their budgets, map out projects, mobilize contractors, and commission life-changing projects in real-time. Interestingly, this relative autonomy also extended to caretaker chairmen, who were selected by the executive fiat of the governor.

 

While late Abiola Ajimobi conducted council elections once, Governor Seyi Makinde has done that twice, but with underwhelming performances by those saddled with local affairs. Time and again, Governor Makinde hasn’t shied from expressing his disdain for local government autonomy. For the past six years, he has ensured that local governments survival remained permanently tied to his apron strings. That high-handedness has effectively crippled any modicum of development and stewardship at the grassroots level.

 

For one thing, I have written extensively on that hubris, especially given the governor’s outburst in the 2023 gubernatorial debate, where he categorically opposed all logical arguments in support of local government autonomy. I will not dwell on that.

 

For two reasons, Lagos, Nigeria’s center of excellence, was at the heart of national discourse last week. As Nigeria’s former administrative capital for seventy-seven years (1914-1991), Lagos has always enjoyed the gift of its uniqueness: the melting pot of Nigeria’s rich and sizzling diversity. On one part of the discourse was the elaborate swearing-in of its newly elected council chairmen across all 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas.

 

Recall that a few weeks back, Lagos held its council poll. In what has become a norm in Nigeria’s democratic journey, the ruling APC won all the seats and left no crumbs for the opposition. I wrote about the winners-take-all mentality that has eroded fair competition in our democratic trajectory last week. That was exactly what happened in Lagos and other states of the federation.

 

The other interesting part of the Lagos drama was the renaming of the streets. That has equally generated lots of debates and contentious conversations. In essence, the icing on the cake of Lagos’ swearing-in ceremony for the new council chairs was the list of projects executed by the council bosses lined up for commissioning by the governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. That a mere council boss could map out projects and execute them caught many by surprise.

 

That era, where the local government truly enjoyed autonomy, had become distant to a lot of people. And a return to that developmental tradition appeared strange to many. That day, across social media, netizens dragged their state governors for sidestepping, sidelining, and sandbagging their various council areas in their development agenda.

 

Take Moyosore Ogunlewe, the chairman of Kosofe local government, who was re-elected for another term of four years in office. In a viral tweet that is now pinned to his profile, he boasted of having forty road projects to his name within four years in office. While the verification of that claim is limited, no council boss in Oyo State, whether past or present under Governor Seyi Makinde, can boast of completing just 10 road projects. In Bariga LCDA, for instance, several reports indicated that Governor Sanwo-Olu commissioned a legislative chamber, 21 networks of roads, five Primary Health Centers, three newly built primary schools, and one fire station facilitated by the Hon. Kolade Alabi-led administration. The story was the same in Agboyi-Ketu, where an ICT hub, a sports center, and a network of four roads were also facilitated by Hon. Dele Osinowo. That kind of stewardship has become a thing of the past in the pace setter state. And it all boils down to the leadership and governance philosophy of the governor.

 

In Oyo State, most rural dwellers no longer believe in Governor Makinde’s grassroots development agenda. In fact, many now whisper that he has no agenda at all! Granted, most Primary Health Care facilities have been reconstructed all by the state government. Sadly, most roads leading to them are death traps. Yes, the light-up project is scattered across 32 local government areas except Irepo. Unfortunately, the light-up project has only brought total darkness – in most areas. To them, no governor has reduced the plights of rural dwellers to the ordinary hues and cries of wailers than GSM. Under his watch, the governor has concentrated resources in the urban centers, particularly Ibadan. Granted, he has connected the urban and semi-urban areas through road infrastructure. However, that cannot be said of rural areas. Or is the state meant for urban dwellers alone?

 

There were high hopes when Governor Makinde came on board. The expectation of a man whose administration would engineer development across the board appeared tantalising and realistic. While the governor ultimately scored excellently well in some areas, his performance in grassroots development has remained abysmal and disappointing. In the next two years, power will shift from Governor Makinde’s hands, and that is when it will dawn on him that he has ultimately minored where he’s supposed to major and major where he’s ought to minor.

 

Take some areas in the Oyo North Senatorial district that were affected by rainstorms and flash floods. In Igboho, the headquarters of the Oorelope local government, a rainstorm recently wreaked havoc of unimaginable proportions on the agrarian community. Electric poles were damaged. Residential buildings destroyed. That is in addition to other critical infrastructure that were touched by the natural disaster. Apparently, the tragic incidents made headlines, but most residents have learnt to moderate their expectations.

 

Just a few months earlier, Igbeti, the headquarters of Olorunsogo, equally buckled under the yoke of rock contraction, which disrupted daily activities and sent a chill down the spines of many residents. In the two incidents, the council chairmen were as helpless as the residents who expected the government to guarantee their safety. Then, a flash flood washed away the roads connecting Ogooro-Igboho, Kisi-Igboho just after the rainstorm devastated Igboho. The overt concentration of power in the hands of the Governor and Ibadan has done more harm than good. The lack of trust Governor Makinde has shown to those at the helm of local affairs will continue to erode his legacy and dent his leadership reputation. Fortunately, there’s more than enough time to turn the tide and change course.

 

OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about issues affecting the Oyo state and is published every Saturday. He can be reached via @Upliftnuggets on X, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com, and 09065176850.