The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday, 5th December, commissioned the 10km Okitipupa bye pass road with praises for his Ondo counterpart, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for the impactful and significant development happening in the Sunshine state.
Governor Sanwo-olu said as a party and brothers,the goal is to continue to do peer review encourage one another to chart good paths.
His words:
“This is not my first time. It is not my second time of coming to Ondo State. And each time I come, it is because of a significant development that is happening in your state.
“You have seen that, indeed, there is meaningful development that is happening in your state. You can see that, even with the little resources available to the State, Arakunrin Akeredolu is using it well for the betterment of the people and the state. I want to thank you for this sir.
“Earlier today, I was in Owo. I can see new roads. We are here again. This is indeed a First Class road that is worthy to be acknowledged.
“Governor Akeredolu, thank you for holding onto our party. Thank you for giving your people the real essence of democracy. It is only with infrastructure you can see growth and development in all our communities.
“It is only with infrastructure we can commune peacefully from one community to another community, that you can move from one jurisdiction to another, effortlessly.
“Only reward for a good work is more work. And that is why we are in governance. We are in governance to change lives positively. We are in governance to make life more meaningful to our people.
“Tell other communities that with Akeredolu, more purposeful and meaningful development is coming. It is just a case of let us just finish one before we move to another. You can see the quality of this road is next to none.
“On this road, I can imagine how many jobs that have been provided. People were selling sand, people were selling cement, people were selling pure water, food, and all sorts of economic activities happened in the construction of this road.
“You can see that is what governance is all about. It is not an abandoned project, it is not a failed project. Governance is about solution, it is about the people,” Governor Sanwo-Olu added.
Present at the commissioning were the deputy governor, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa; members of the State Executive Council led by the Secretary to the State Government, Princess Oladunni Odu; state chairman of the APC, Engr. Ade Adetimehin; APC chieftains including candidates from the Central and Southern Senatorial Districts; religious leaders; traditional rulers and several other dignitaries.
Earlier, the Host and Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, explained that the road was constructed on a virgin land to permanently solve the horrific problem of traffic congestion in Okitipupa.
Governor Akeredolu said the traffic congestions usually resulted in delay for vehicles plying Okitipupa–Igbokoda Road, and always making a journey which should normally last about 30 minutes to become hours.
He particularly appreciated Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for finding time out of his busy schedule to honour his invitation to commission the road.
Governor Akeredolu revealed that in infrastructure development and good governance, his administration has raised the bar and set a standard which can hardly be faulted by anyone.
He described his administration as the flagship and reference point for infrastructural development, transformation and good governance in Nigeria.
According to him, as a virgin land, the best contractor was used to construct the road project to standard and specification.
The Governor also appealed to the people to consider all the road projects as both their personal and collective heritage by protecting and preserving them.
He added that his government has achieved a lot in terms of development of infrastructure by emplacing a string of people-oriented projects that have benchmarked Ondo State as a State of repute in Nigeria in terms of quality and speed in project delivery.
Worthy of note is the flyover bridge at Ore tagged ” Redemption Bridge” and which was started and completed within two years of the present government in office.
The fly over is to take care of the apparently unceasing traffic on the road with its attendant carnage occasioned by incessant road accidents.
There were goodwill messages from prominent people present at the Commissioning of the Okitipupa bye- pass with a call for support with the government of Arakunrin Akeredolu to enable him consolidate the more on his laudable programmes and projects as Governor of the Sunshine State.