Oyo State Government this Tuesday, announced the extension of Light-Up Oyo State Project to other Zones of the state. The approval was reached at the State Executive Council Meeting held at the Governor’s Office, Agodi, Secretariat. This was disclosed by the Hon Commissioner for Public Works, Transport and Infrastructure, Raphael Afonja, while briefing reporters shortly after the meeting.He said,
“As a result of our meeting, the council approved the expansion of the street light project that started late last year. We will start the phase two, which will be extended to other zones in the state. About 70 roads have been captured for the installation of this LED street light and majority of roads in the state will feel the impact.”
“One of the reasons why the decision of His Excellency came about was the fact that he believes in security of the society. So, for security reasons, that was why the initiative came up. Also, we believe it will have socio-economic in terms of people display their good, as we saw in the first phase. They can feel secure coming from their homes or going to hospitals or wherever they are coming from. And the fact that they can see where they are going or coming from is one of the benefits of democracy when it comes to this initiative.”
“The second project is the zero pot hole initiative that the Governor has embarked upon. He believes there is a need to quickly, before the rain starts, to fix the pot holes, starting with Ibadan metropolis. As we all know, most traffic congestion that has been experienced in the past has been due to people being extra careful when they are driving because they don’t want to hit the pot holes.”
“So, the Executive Council approved the commencement of parching of potholes, starting with Ibadan metropolis.”
“Also, another thing that has been done recently is the decentralisation of OYSTROMA so that it can have offices in five zones, which will allow the effectiveness in terms of fixing most of these potholes that have been observed across the state.”
“So, we are being pro-active about it while OYSTROMA will take the lead. You must have been seeing them one or two time in the news visiting different zones.”
“There are other initiatives when it comes to pot holes fixing that will follow this, which will go all the way to the grassroots. Initially, people think it is only in Ibadan but we should thank His Excellency because it is now expanding to other zones in the state.”
In a similar vein, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Kehinde Ayoola said: “His Excellency launched a new solid waste management architecture recently and what the architecture entails is the proper collection, storage and conveyance of solid waste from the point of generation to the point of disposal, which is the dumpsite.”
“Part of what that entails again is, collection, storage and transfer to dumpsite will be largely private-sector driven. I am happy to report to you that the selection of Private Sector Participant (PSP) for solid waste has been concluded and because they have to dump the waste in a place, the dumpsite has to be made ready and comfortable.”
“Pursuant to that, the Oyo State Executive Council has approved contracts for the rehabilitation of two waste dumpsites in Ibadan. There is one at Ajakanga, Oluyole Local Government and the second one is at Awotan near Apete in Ido Local Government. The contractor has, as I speak to you, moved to site and work has commenced.
“The idea is to expand the capacity and enhance the efficiency of our solid waste collection and disposal efforts.”
