Makinde Unveils Agenda 2040 For Oyo State

Reported by Ayooluwa Afolabi

Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, will present the Agenda 2040 for Oyo State on Wednesday.

The governor will present the Agenda at the Consultative Engagement Meeting on the 2025 Budget scheduled to be held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

Recall that the governor had, in November 2020, inaugurated a Steering Committee on the Oyo State Agenda 2040, taking a cue from the Federal Government’s preparation of Agenda 2050, which seeks a holistic transformation of the country’s economy, as obtained in countries like China, South Korea, India, and Malaysia.

The state’s Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Musbau Babatunde, said the governor expressed his desire to produce the maiden 20-Year Development Plan ‘Tagged Agenda 2040’ for Oyo State and the Five Years Medium Term Development Plan to address the socio-economic drift and refocusing the state on the path of progress.

He noted that the Medium-Term Development Plan 2023 to 2027 is the implementation plan for the Agenda 2040, stating that the medium-term development plan provided the forward-looking intention of the government and good people of Oyo state and also set goals, objectives, and strategy for achieving them.

He added that the documents articulate the state’s vision, projecting the state beyond 2027, and that they are premised on the need to create expanded opportunities for all.

Babatunde said: “The development of these documents was driven by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, supported by DFID/PERL, DAWN Commission, UNICEF, and University of Ibadan Ventures Limited (consultancy service unit) through Professor Olusanya Ajakaiye.

“The objectives of Agenda 2040, which is anchored on the four pillars of Education, Health, Security, and Economy, include making Oyo State the most secure state in Nigeria for conducive economic and social development; raise educational standards to the top through the provision of qualitative basic, secondary, non-formal and tertiary education; provide and sustain the availability, accessibility, and affordability of required healthcare services to the citizens, particularly the needy.

“Other objectives are to improve farmers’ productivity and value addition by strengthening production in areas of comparative advantage for commercial agriculture; accelerate infrastructure provision in key areas and adopt Public Private Partnership arrangements; improve Internally Generated Revenue through development of new sources and improvement of existing ones through innovative and purposeful modes of revenue collection and utilization.

He continued; “Another objective is also to make Oyo State the hub of economic activities and investors’ preferred destination in Nigeria; and employment and job creation through provision of productive and sustainable livelihood for youths in Oyo State.

“The expected result of the Agenda 2040 is that it is expected to translate economic growth into equitable socio-economic development that guarantees a dignified and meaningful existence for all; optimize the state’s human and natural resources potentials to achieve accelerated development from poverty to prosperity and create an enabling environment for private investments (domestic and foreign) to thrive through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP).

“It is also expected to increase sustainable production, productivity and value addition in key growth opportunities; increase the stock and quality of strategic infrastructure to hasten competitiveness and development; enhance Human Capital Development, and strengthen mechanisms for quality, effective and efficient service delivery.”