There is no doubts that Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state is profiteering from the hardships in town.
To the Oyo state Governor, the present situation in the country is a fertile ground to sow his future ambitions.
What time could be better than the present time to suddenly turn to an accidental lover of the masses?
Unfortunately for the Governor, not all of us buy into his tricks.
Some of us know that what presently in president Tinubu’s eyes are mere chaffs compared to the gamout of logs in Makinde’s eyes.
Perhaps, this is the time to ask Governor Makinde some salient questions.
There is acute food shortage in the country now and Oyo state is not immuned.
It still baffles me, how and why Oyo state, at this period is not profiting from the situation in the country, considering the billions of Naira the Governor have expended on Agriculture and “Agri-business”!
I thought by now, Makinde ought to have flooded our markets with the “Botswana” maize.
It does look like Governor Makinde needs to explain to the people of Oyo state how the Nassarawa Agric training embarked upon by his Government and where youths from Oyo state attended, with billions of Naira spent, made a difference at this crucial time.
What is happening in both Akufo and Eruwa Farm settlement?
I am from Eruwa in Ibarapa East Local Government council and I know that despite the 7.6 billion Naira loan taken by Governor Makinde to resuscitate both Farm settlements, not a block have been laid in Eruwa Farm settlement!
Governor Makinde needs to tell the people of Oyo state and in clear terms, how many food silos Oyo state presently have.
Does Oyo state actually have any food reserve?
Governor Sanwi-Olu of Lagos state demonstrated leadership.
Despite the fact that Lagos state has no arable land, he partnered with Kebbi state and “LAKE” rice was the result.
Today, Lagos state has a fully functioning rice mills.
All this were achieved when Governor Makinde was paying lip service to Agriculture and blowing big Grammar all over the place.
I wonder how much Grammar is required to plant maize, cassava, tomatoes, pepper, yam and other food crops which Oyo state soil will conveniently grow without special technology.
Governor Makinde is resulting to blame pushing to divert attention from his own failures.
If all the billions of Naira he wasted on cosmetic Agric-economy were channelled towards realistic farming and food production, he won’t have the need to be looking for where to blame his failures.
The Local Governments are proper channels where such monies ought to have been put to use.
If he had encouraged Local Governments to engage in massive farming and backed it up with funds, Oyo state would by now be in abundance.
Rather than doing that, he has continuously been ravaging the funds meant by the Local Governments.
My advice to the Governor is that this is not a time to play the Ostrich.
His counterparts have been busy trying to find solutions to the hunger problems.
I remember vividly well how the late former Governor Adebayo Alao Akala started from the scratch and completed the establishment of the College of Agriculture, Igboora.
The Institution has absolved and trained indigent students of Oyo state on diverse Agricultural courses and provided jobs for many.
As at the time the late Governor left office, the College had a functional fish Dam and a cattle Ranch well stocked.
The last time I checked, both the Dam and cattle Ranch are a thing of the past.
I had been to Fasola Farms settlement during the tenure of the late former Governor Alao Akala.
At that time, refurbishing job was contracted by the late Governor.
I saw that Fasola could successfully contain a cattle Ranch and fish Dam.
If Governor Makinde had expended the billions he spent on building some funny structures in Fasola on a cattle Ranch and Fish Dam, Oyo state by now should be supplying neighbouring states with cattle and Fish apart from the job opportunities it would have provided.
However, the Governor would rather concentrate on abstracts rather than physical farming.
He is like the proverbial man who planted a hundred tubers of yam but went to town claiming to have planted two hundred tubers.
The current food crisis have exposed Governor Makinde, who obviously have finished eating his real hundred tubers of yam and must enjoy the abstract hundred tubers.
I think someone should tell Governor Makinde at this point that he doesn’t have the luxury of combining the difficult task of finding solutions to the food crisis in Oyo state with being an accidental critic of the president.
His own load in Oyo state is more than enough for him to carry.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
