Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde promised to concentrate on developing solid minerals and tourism if re-elected in 2023.
During the 41 days of Muslim Fidau prayers for the late Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdulganiyu Salau, Makinde committed in Iseyin.
The old town’s Iseyin District Grammar School served as the venue for the event.
Additionally, he pledged to turn Iseyin, which is in the state’s northern region, into Nigeria’s centre for developing solid minerals.
He said that his administration’s determination to build a road network connecting Iseyin to every zone in Oyo State was related to its goal of making Iseyin the state’s capital and a national centre for developing solid minerals.
He said that his policy document, known as Oyo Roadmap for Accelerated Development 2023-2027, would capture tourism and solid mineral development as viable tools for achieving the economic expansion agenda of the administration.
On what his administration had done for the ancient town, Makinde said, “we have completed the 65 kilometres Moniya-Iseyin Road, while the 76 kilometres Iseyin-Fapote-Ogbomoso Road had gone beyond 50 per cent.
“The administration is also constructing the Oyo-Iseyin Road in the same axis.”
The governor further hinted that the Iseyin General Hospital was among the hospitals captured in the state’s French Government Intervention Programme for the healthcare sector.
He explained that his government would work out how to derive benefits from the Ikere Gorge Dam and other tourist attractions across the state.
He declared that the resuscitation of the Ikere Gorge Dam was a top priority project for the administration and that it would receive attention once funds were available.
Makinde said his government would continue to deliver on its electioneering promises till the last day of his first tenure.
He added that more developmental projects would come to Iseyin and the entire Oyo State if the people re-elected him as their governor in 2023.
The governor described the late Aseyin as an individual who loved Iseyin and did his best to attract development to the town.
He said: “We need to thank God for a day like this because we are celebrating the life of our departed Kabiyesi.
“I don’t think I have come across any individual who loved Iseyin like the departed Aseyin of Iseyin”.
Earlier, Mr Hammed Raji, who welcomed and appreciated Gov. Makinde on behalf of the Iseyin Progressive Union, lauded the governor for bringing tremendous developments and progress to Iseyinland.
He promised the town’s people would show appreciation to the governor by re-electing him in the 2023 general elections.