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Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has said his administration aims to leave a lasting legacy through the institutions it is building to promote good governance, sustainable development and long-term growth beyond his time in office.
The governor made the remarks during a media chat on Tuesday, where he reflected on the impact of infrastructure projects and underscored the importance of completing them.
“We would love to be remembered for the institutions that we’re creating that will ensure good governance and sustainable development and growth long after we’ve left this place,” Makinde said.
He explained that public recognition of infrastructure projects is often shaped by whether they are completed or abandoned.
“That ring road that you mentioned just now, if I ask a lot of people who constructed that ring road, I went, you know, to search for the history of that road. And I found out that when it was constructed, it was the most expensive road per kilometre that was ever constructed in Nigeria at the time,” he said.
Makinde noted that many people are now unaware of who built the road, adding that abandoned projects tend to attract more attention than completed ones.
“And if you ask people who constructed that road now, I can tell you they won’t know. So that is what you get. The only way they will know who started the road will be if the road is not finished. If the project becomes abandoned, then they will tell you, ah, this road was started by X, Y, Z. Then that’s it.”
He stressed that successfully completed projects quickly become part of everyday life and are soon taken for granted.
“But if you start a project, you finish it, and people start using it, within a very short time, they will have forgotten,” he said.
The governor added that his administration is focused on creating opportunities rather than offering handouts, with the aim of enabling residents to lift themselves out of poverty.
“So, for us in Oyo State, we believe that we’re not going to give people handouts. We will create, and we’ve been creating, that conducive environment for people to, you know, come in, have opportunities, and then they’ll take themselves out of poverty.”
