Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has urged political leaders to put community development ahead of partisan rivalry, arguing that public projects should serve residents regardless of party affiliation.
Makinde spoke during the inauguration and handover of the Alhaji Kazeem Owonikoko Building at L.A. Primary School in Oke Esa, Iseyin. The facility was donated to the state by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ahmed Raji.
The governor cautioned against treating politics as a life-or-death contest, saying political disagreements should not damage social relationships. Governments and political parties change, he observed, but the state and its communities remain.
He highlighted industrial activity around Iseyin, including a sugar factory near Fasola Farms said to be undergoing test operations. Makinde argued that improvements to road connections had made such investments more feasible and could help raise the town’s economic profile.
Responding to Raji’s request that the Iseyin campus of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology become an independent university, Makinde said the government would examine the proposal, undertake a sustainability assessment and follow the National Universities Commission’s procedures. His remarks did not amount to immediate approval of a new institution.
Raji, president of the Oke Ogun Development Consultative Forum, praised road projects linking Moniya, Iseyin, Oyo, Fapote and Ogbomoso, as well as the establishment of a LAUTECH agricultural sciences campus in Iseyin.
The event brought attention to the role of private philanthropy alongside government spending in improving educational facilities and the importance of testing major institutional proposals for long-term financial viability.
