The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has decried the low physical and infrastructure development of Ile Ife, the cradle of Yoruba people.
He declared that Ile Ife deserves total upgrade in terms of flyovers, dualised roads and upgraded facilities befitting the cultural capital of Yoruba race.
According to his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, Adeleke lamented the low developmental outlook of the ancient city while hosting a delegation of Ife development board at the government house.
The governor announced plans to commence massive upgrade starting with the Lagere flyover and the dualisation of the road leading to the palace in Ile-Ife,
“Our administration is committed to completing the flyover as well as the dualisation of the road leading to the Ooni palace. I want to be recorded in history as the Governor who transformed Ile Ife into a modern cultural and tourism city”, the governor told the leaders.
He further promised that the request for expansion of the dualisation to Ilesa Garage will be evaluated for further action by the technical team.
On security, he assured the Ife Development Board that his administration is already reforming the state’s Amotekun security service as a bridge between local communities and the federal security services.
He explained that local vigilante and forest hunters would henceforth be working with Amotekun service and other formal security agencies to secure Osun cities and rural areas.
Earlier, the President of the Ife Development Board, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, commended Governor Adeleke for his development strides in Osun state and particularly in Ile Ife, listing requests touching on road expansion, security and agriculture.
He said “Ile-Ife is our collective heritage. It deserves more than passing attention. As the ancestral home of all Yoruba both here in Nigeria and in the Diaspora, we all owe ourselves the duty to transform it and make it more amiable, more welcoming as the poster place for all proud Yoruba.”