Tag: Dotun Babayemi

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Dotun Babayemi, has called on government at all levels in the country to place a premium on grassroots development in the new year.

Babayemi, who expressed concern, said that the call had become imperative in view of the neglect and degradation being suffered by the people at the grassroots.

In his New Year message released by his media office, the leader of the Ireti Osun Movement said President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Ward Development Program (RHWDP) could be used as launchpad to achieve this.

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“At the risk of sounding immodest, I can talk about my state, which has 332 wards. Out of these, I visited 299 wards with 33 remaining. I can safely say that the experience was far from being palatable as it shows people going through excruciating pains and completely cut off from modernity,” he decried.

He lamented that the absence of basic social amenities such as good roads, potable water, electricity, schools and hospitals, among others, was the hallmark of the rural areas.

One of the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial aspirants in Osun State, Omooba Dotun Babayemi has said that massive agricultural programmes with good road networks across the state will transform the state’s economy.

Babayemi regretted that the bad roads across the state, especially in the rural areas, over 70 per cent of farm produce are being trapped and destroyed yearly in the state.

Babayemi decried this during the continuation of his statewide ward-to-ward visit to four local governments including Irewole,Ife North, Oriade and Ilesa East local governments.

The governorship aspirant has visited 262 wards out of the 332 with 70 remaining.

He assured that an APC administration in the state would focus more on the rural areas without neglecting the urban centers, adding that rural roads would be given due attention so as to allow for abundance of food for the people.

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“The population of rural dwellers in Osun is about 65 to 70 percent, yet all the focus has been on the urban centres.

“But let me be clear, it’s only agriculture that can save the economy of Osun State, and without good road networks, that dream is impossible,” the aspirant maintained.

At the ten wards visited, Babayemi stressed that the state was in a better stead in the Southwest, noting that if properly handled, it could become the hub for other states in the region.

“What could save us in this state is to create economic space and opportunities. We are well situated in the Southwest; there is no state Osun does not share a border with–Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti, and Kwara. We are right in the middle. We ought to be the engine room of the Southwest economy,” he added.

Babayemi added that this could be achieved through agriculture where good roads exist, pointing out that it could create job opportunities for many.

“Where there’s a good road network, most farm produce won’t get spoiled. Over 70 percent of what farmers harvest in rural areas perishes because they can’t transport them to the market. If we can move these goods easily from the farms to the cities, the economy will improve greatly. But when roads are bad, everything rots away in the villages,” the Gbongan-born Prince lamented.

Speaking separately in Ikire, Ipetumodu 1 and 2,Yakoyo and Moro in Ife North; Ipetu Ijesa 1 and 2,Okesa,Iloro,isare,Bolorunduro and Irojo in Ilesa East, the people commended Babayemi for coming to them and pleaded that he should remember their areas for development if given the opportunity to lead the state.

They expressed their readiness to ensure the emergence of the APC in the state in 2026 as well the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in 2027.