Oyinlola’s agricultural and water revolution in Osun

By Dapo Falade

Gov Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Osun State

Dapo Falade writes on how Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State is changing the face of agriculture, as well as providing water for the people of the Living Spring State

In any given society, what gives the ruler a legitimacy is not the coercive elements of governance but the ability to facilitate and promote the general welfare and interest of the governed.

In tune with the above realisation, the present Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration in Osun State, under the leadership of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has been formulating and executing numerous policies and programmes aimed at making living more beneficial and meaningful for the people of the state. In virtually all facets of human endeavour, the Okuku-born prince has initiated projects which have fundamental bearings on the lives of the citizens of the State of the Living Spring.

To make the people feel the impact and bring essence of governance closer to the people at the grassroots level, the Prince Oyinlola-led administration, within the past four years, has revolutionised the agricultural sector as well as greatly improved on the provision of potable water in all nooks and crannies of the various communities in the state.

In a bid to ensure the abundant availability of food and agricultural products as well as create a source of employment for the teeming jobless youths in the state, the Osun State government established the State Agricultural Youth Empowerment Programme (OSSAYEP) which has been a source of employment for 2,000 youths. The government also purchased 336 tractors, 336 disc ploughs, 150 disc harrows, 150 disc ridgers and 150 numbers of 4-ton tipping trailers all at a cost of N1,432,061,731.97 to boost agriculture.

Still on agriculture, the Oyinlola administration introduced to the school curriculum, an agricultural programme incorporating piggery, rabbitery, fisheries and tree crops. Curative and prophylactic treatment of 228,411 animals for various diseases were done while 4,000 day-old chicks parent stock were also purchased for the Oloba Poultry at Iwo. Consequently, 300,000 day-old pullets and cockerels were produced at the poultry and sold to poultry farmers.
The government embarked on the rehabilitation, stocking and management of the five government-owned fish ponds at a cost of N1.5m while it also did the stocking of the newly-constructed ornamental fish pond in the new Government House with 3,000 clarias fingerlings, 1,000 tilapia fingerlings and 500 juvenile adult of heterotis iloticus.

Other projects embarked upon by the Oyinlola administration in the agricultural sector include: the establishment of 10 hectares of indigenous species of timber (that is khaya, terminalia ivorensis); 49 hectares of teak plantation; production and distribution of 526,000 timber seedlings; silivicultural treatment of 66 hectares of old teak plantation; raising of 410,000 cocoa seedlings for the National Cocoa Development Project and payment of N13million to the Federal Government on National Cocoa Development. Others are: purchase of agro-chemicals and cocoa for farmers; granting of 200 million interest-free loan to farmers; granting of N20 million loan to OSSAYEP farmers; granting of N50 million loan to produce buyers; granting of 50 million naira loan to butchers; raising and distribution of over one million cocoa seedlings to farmers; payment of N25 million for sustainable agricultural marketing programme and the establishment of one additional farm settlement in Ifon-Orolu.

Not resting on its oars, the Osun State government has also facilitated landmark achievements in making water available in virtually all nooks and crannies of the state. Governor Oyinlola has been able to execute and complete mini water scheme projects ranging from 20,000 litres to 200,000 litres in numerous communities in 25 local government areas of the state. The government also took delivery of two refurbished Mayhew drilling rigs purchased by the administration to boost water supply in the state. One of the rigs has been modified to make it functional while the state government has also released funds for the purchase of drilling accessories to make the modified rig perform optimally.

The UNDP, Osun State office released funds for the completion of boreholes drilled by the government in 2003 but which could not be completed then due to high cost arising from hiring of a compressor which jerked up the unit cost of a borehole. The present administration released funds to complete the boreholes and make potable water available to people in those rural communities where the boreholes were located.

In order to make the traditional institution feel the impact of good governance, the present administration has provided three semi-industrial motorised boreholes in each of the following palaces in the state: Ooni of Ife’s palace; Owa Obokun’s palace (Ilesa); Ataoja’s palace (Osogbo); Olokuku’s palace (Okuku); Orangun’s palace (Ila) and Oluwo’s palace (Iwo), while the government has also commenced drilling of boreholes in all secondary schools in Osun State. Under the phase one of the exercise, five boreholes are to be drilled in every local government area. The exercise has been completed in six local government areas, while work is on-going in other local government areas.

To complement the effort of the state government to provide potable water to rural communities in the state, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, gave out 600 handpumps to the present administration which have been received and put to good use.

In order to give a sense of belonging to border communities that have been neglected for a long time along Iwo and Ejigbo local government boundaries with Oyo State, the present administration approved and released funds for the drilling of 26 boreholes which comprised of two motorised boreholes each in Ogburo and Agberire in Iwo Local Government area and Owu-Ile in Ejigbo Local Government area. 20 handpump boreholes were also given to other border communities in the two local government areas.

The Oyinlola administration also extended the policy of making water abundantly available to federal parastatals and other locations as it has approved that one motorised borehole each should be drilled in locations such as: NTA, Osogbo; NTA, Ile-Ife; Recreation Club, Ile-Ife; Obalufe Palace, Ile-Ife and the Government House Annex at Oke-fia, Osogbo as well as two boreholes at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Ile-Ife.

While one semi-industrial borehole was drilled at the Governor’s lodge at Osogbo, the state government, between 2004 and 2005, indentified and repaired 105 broken-down boreholes and deep wells in all the nine Federal Constituencies in the state during a special handpump rehabilitation and repair exercise.

It is also worthy to note that Osun State was the only state selected in the South West for assistance under the EU/UNICEF/FGN Water and Environmental Sanitation Programme implementation, with five other states in the country namely, Abia, Cross River, Kebbi, Nasarawa and Plateau states. Presently, the Oyinlola administration has approved the counterpart fund expected to be paid by the state government for 2006 for the implementation of EU/UNICEF WES programme in the state.

Recognising the commitment of the state government to water provision, Osun State is one of the two states selected by the European Union to serve as “guides” in the implementation of water and Environmental Sanitation Programme (WES) for the other four states.
Signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the implementation of EU/UNICEF/FGN WES Programme in the last quarter of 2005, the present administration re-established Osun State Rural Water and Environment Sanitation Agency (RUWESA) to coordinate and give more focus to the provision of potable water and environmental sanitation in the rural areas.