The fact is that Ondo State is close to the sea and we are close to Lagos. The oil, to me, is a distraction. If we can open up our waterways and we have seaports, and create an environment that is conducive and attractive for investors, the issue of unemployment will be a thing of the past. We need to lure government to invest more on non-oil and stop militarisation. Oil is our weakness not our strength. Let us leverage the natural thing.
The question is, what resources are available and how best have we used those resources.
The challenges in the mandate areas are enormous, infrastructural wise, and social-economic wise, despite the fact that is the place where most of the resources, especially oil revenue come from. It is undisputable for anyone who visits that environment to see that definitely there is a lot of gaps. In other words, if you look at what resources have come to the state from oil and look at what has been derived in terms of development, definitely there is a wide gap. If you look at what that gap is and what will be needed to close that gap is definitely enormous in terms of resources.
So, the little that comes should be very constant and we also need to have a strategic plan on how best to use the little resources to make a difference in the lives of the people.
When you have a poor and not conducive environment for learning, you are not likely to have qualitative education and that is going to have impact on the economy. So, we need to improve the infrastructure in our schools so as to provide quality education.
What OSOPADEC has always done is to advocate that government should focus more on what could benefit people of the mandate area.
Dr Victor Koledoye, Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC)
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
