Reflections from the Campaign Trail – Seyi Makinde

By Bukola Hameed

In the last two weeks, I have been on the campaign trail. After the consultations at the zonal level, we started local government area campaigns from Ogbomoso Zone. We plan to visit all 33 local government areas (LGAs) in Oyo State and make at least five stops in each LGA.

I thank all those who have welcomed us on the campaign trail. It is always exciting seeing how much faith the people have in us. Let me specially mention the students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) who trooped out en masse to welcome us and pledge their support for our re-election.

But away from the spotlights and carnivallike feel of the campaigns, the smaller meetings we hold with stakeholders where they can freely give us feedback on some of our policies and programmes have an even deeper significance for me. It usually gives me the opportunity to have a localised colouration of what we have achieved so far.

We never really know what impact we have made or what more we need to do by sitting back in Ibadan. This is why in the last 44 months; we have made these interactions a regular part of governance in Oyo State. Before now, we held town hall meetings before we prepared the budget and during our annual milestone celebrations.

Hearing from the day-to-day people: the farmers, market men and women, youths, private sector employers and employees, and other residents of the state, gives a perspective to governance that one would never get otherwise. When leaders do not have these interactions, they tend to remain in a bubble. Visiting these people and places is the best part of the campaign for me.

In the next two weeks, we will be campaigning in Oyo and Ibadan Zones. I look forward to seeing you as we visit Afijio, Atiba, Oyo East, Oyo West, Akinyele, Lagelu and Egbeda LGAs. Our message remains the same. We have shown that it is possible to accelerate development in Oyo State while maintaining a human face in governance. We are now saying, let’s go for sustainable development under Omituntun 2.0.

Of course, the campaigns have crowded out my regular reading, but that does not mean I have not been reading. I have been reading reports, surveys and the final edits to the Roadmap to Sustainable Development in Oyo State 2023-2027. You will certainly receive this soon and have a new set of promises to hold us to when we are re-elected.