Ado Ekiti Transformation And Oyebanji’s Slum To Wealth Strategy

If there is any policy that is topmost in Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s heart, it is making Ado-Ekiti assume the status of a befitting State Capital. By his own estimation, the town is not just the capital city, but Ekiti’s ‘living room’. Whatever impres­sion a visitor forms about the town inadvertently represents the general appraisal of the whole State.

Before his advent, some pivotal sec­tions of the city were gradually being reduced to a slum, rather than a city of prosperity. The Atikankan area, located in the heart of the city was a known safe haven for criminals and people with shady character. All man­ner of nefarious activities were being perpetrated in this notable criminals’ den. Criminality, filthiness and oddity were its totems and brands. No other way to describe this notorious spot.

At this flashpoint, the street ur­chins and vagabonds brazenly ped­dled Indian hemp and other illicit drugs in the open. They snatched people’s bags and picked their pock­ets without resistance. They harassed passersby and even security agencies at will. The aggregate of these horren­dous actions further plummeted the rating of Ado-Ekiti as a deserving capital city.

To change the sordid narratives, Governor Oyebanji midwived a clean-up initiative tagged ‘Urban Renewal Policy” to usher sanity into the al­ready chaotic system. He highlighted key areas targeted for clean-up and enforcement of the prohibition on street trading and illegal occupancy to cover Ereguru through Aremu, Oke Ori Omi, Isato Oke, Isato Odo and Ati­kankan Roundabout, extending to Ig­beyin, Ilawe Road Junction, and Ijigbo areas of the city.

Most troubling was the surrep­titious spreading of the slum to the sprawling and contiguous areas of the city. The popular Irona-Oke Bola- Oke Oniyo area, also felt a dose of the criminal behaviour that was fast gaining traction like a bush fire in the harmattan through the spot. The scavengers and Indian hemp smokers thronged these areas under the facade of using the places for their businesses to perpetrate illicit acts.

Besides the menace of slum and shanties, it was an open issue that Ado Ekiti needs a serious modern touch. This could be predicated on the fact that other strategic areas within the city like Igbeyin, Isato, Odo Aremu, Irona, Ijoka and Okesa were in dire need of radical face-lifting. They are replete with decrepit and old-fash­ioned buildings that needed to be re­structured.

Another perennial problem asso­ciated with the town was the issue of perpetual traffic snarl being witnessed between Okeyinmi-Ijigbo- Ajilosun area. Oftentimes, motorists spent over an hour to navigate a distance that covers only one kilometre. This principally reduced the quality and rating of the city by visitors.

Another excruciating and knotty crisis staring the government in the face is the poor nightlife of Ado Ek­iti, which has crippled businesses. Asides from the government area at Okesa and Adebayo, virtually all other sections and satellite towns are poorly illuminated at night. They are always in total darkness, caused by perennial power outage.

The aggregate of the foregoing have constituted serious impediments, making Ado Ekiti a state capital that requires serious and swift interven­tion to be able to rival its contempo­raries in the southwest and across the nation.

Having served in many capacities in the past and lived his productive life in Ado Ekiti, Oyebanji was well abreast of all these snags associated with the town. Little wonder he articu­lated the best urban renewal policy to make the capital city wear a new look. The positive results are being felt in diverse ways.

Without wasting time, Oyebanji succeeded in dismantling the shanties and slums at Atikankan hotspot and sanity is gradually returning to the place. He did this by demolishing the expanse area after a meeting with the landlords. In actual fact, he managed the collateral damage by ensuring pay­ment of compensation to owners of legitimate structures in the area before the bulldozers moved in to kick-start the urban renewal initiative.

Speaking about the dream behind the policy, the Governor said the slum that had posed serious threat to the people would now be converted to Ado-Ekiti Central Business District where business owners can locate their palatial head offices to create wealth.

The Governor while espousing his views about the policy boasted that the district would expand to area like Ijoka and the Ado Ekiti Bus Terminal at Oja Oba Area. This sprawling area when fully harnessed will showcase Ado Ekiti to the entire world as a mod­ern city where prosperity resides and attainable.

The Governor was of the opinion that the trajectory of Atikankan spot has been for negativities. A place with a label of age long eyesore and that time has come to rewrite the history. He found it burdensome that area that was supposed to add aesthetic value and bring business advancement was being deployed to haunt the people by criminals.

“The state government’s focus is to clean up the slum and upgrade the land so that the area can be used to boost business activities, improve environmental health, and generate revenue for the state,” Oyebanji said.

To mitigate the policy’s effect on the victims, the government provid­ed adequate shops and spaces at Agric Olope, Oja Oba, and Awedele, among other locations, to accommodate those affected by the relocation.

The governor who indeed meant well was wary of what the saboteurs were capable of. He warned that own­ers of marked containers, umbrellas, and other temporary structures must remove them before Monday, January 27, 2025, when the total clearance of the affected areas would commence. He added that a Public Pay-and-Display Parking System would be introduced to ease pedestrian and vehicular traffic along these routes. Additionally, some unemployed individuals in these areas will be engaged as Uniformed Parking Toll Collectors to provide them with a decent means of livelihood.

The governor had also exhibited se­riousness to eliminate traffic problem in Ado Ekiti by constructing Multibil­lion Naira Flyover between Okeyinmi and Ijigbo. The project is now nearing 70% completion and the contractor was given a moratorium of two years to complete the project. This will lapse in November 2025, when it will be in­augurated.

Though some cynics had argued that the project was misplaced just because the one earlier constructed at Okesa by Governor Ayodele Fay­ose’s administration was adjudged to be serving no purpose. But a vast ma­jority of residents are of the opinion that it might be necessary for the new­ly designated business district with its increasing traffic flow. Added to that is their belief that the capital city has to be better structured and made to com­pete with other capital cities in terms of aesthetics and functional planning. Hence the traditional institution, the elite and the corporate players are in agreement that the Okeyinmi-Ijigbo junction remains the most chaotic in terms of traffic in Ado Ekiti and needs some interventions, hence their sup­port for the project, which would in no small measure transform the area, ushering in more economic develop­ment opportunities.

Governor Oyebanji, whose ad­ministrative style emphasises inclu­sion, remained unperturbed, having received the support of the critical stakeholders before embarking on the project, and adopted multi-pronged approach to ease traffic congestion. To achieve this, he commenced the con­struction of the Ado Ekiti Ring Road Phase 1. This traversed six towns of Ado, Iworoko, Afao, Igbemo, Araromi Obo, Are Ekiti and terminates at the Ekiti State International Cargo Air­port.

According to the governor, besides decongesting the capital city, the inten­tion behind the project was to create Ado Ekiti new town along that axis. It will also boost the local economies of the host communities. With this, any motorist traveling from Gbon­yin to Kwara doesn’t require to navi­gate his route to Ado Ekiti. He has a short course from the airport area to Iworoko. The project is billed for com­pletion soon.

A visitor in Ado Ekiti can now at­test to the fact that the town’s nightlife is gradually up-swinging. The estab­lishment of Independent Power Plant by Oyebanji’s government has also shored up electricity supply to major areas of the city. Government offices, street lights and the state teaching hospitals, among others, are now be­ing powered through the IPP initiative, thereby making it possible for the elec­tricity distribution company to ensure regular supply to other sections that were hitherto encumbered with power outage crisis.

The current government has also ensured regular supply of transform­ers to satellite towns and replaced those inside the city that had packed up. It is heartwarming to see the gov­ernment upscaling the nightlife of the capital city through aggressive solar street lighting around Atikankan, Mat­thew, Irona, Ojumose and Odo Ado. This has improved night businesses and ensured adequate security cover for residents.

The residents are ecstatic seeing the current government constructing alternative roads in major inner cities. The Omisanjana-Deeper Life- Ajem­bandele Road, Hospitals’ Management Road at Adebayo, Agric Olope-Mat­thew road, completion of The Head-Po­lice headquarters road, the GRA Third Extension Road, among others, are some of the midas touches Oyebanji has brought to bring a facelift in this regard.

Gradually, Ado Ekiti is assuming an expected status and becoming a pride of all. This is not by happenstance. It is a product of critical thinking and con­certed efforts being made by Governor Oyebanji to make it a truly deserving state capital.

• Ogunje is Special Assistant on Media to Ekiti State Deputy Governor