I watched, with full attention, a recent episode of CORE ROOM by Bayo Faleke featuring Mr. (Comrade) Sola Abegunde, a self-styled Facebook critic of Governor Seyi Makinde and his administration in Oyo State. In the twenty-minute clip I watched, I counted multiple inconsistencies and outright falsehoods. I was disappointed that an experienced on-air personality like Bayo Faleke let these claims stand for that long without a single fact-check.
So I am taking it upon myself to set the record straight, for the benefit of members of the public who might otherwise be swayed by these claims.
The Ido-Eruwa Road
Mr. Abegunde claimed that Governor Makinde walked back on his promise regarding the 48km Ido-Eruwa road, first promising total reconstruction before narrowing it down to just 12km.
This is a matter of public record, and it isn't accurate. From the onset, the Governor stated clearly that a 12km section from Ido would undergo full reconstruction, while the remaining stretch would receive limited rehabilitation. At a later event, he revealed that Eruwa indigenes had appealed to him for the same quality of road as the 65km Moniya-Iseyin project, a request he granted. Today, the full 48km stretch is being reconstructed at an advanced stage.
No previous administration has undertaken a project of this scale to link Ibarapa to the rest of the state and beyond.
Food Inflation Figures: Niger, Nasarawa, and Oyo
Mr. Abegunde also claimed that food inflation had gone down in Niger and Nasarawa states because those governments bought tractors, while Governor Makinde instead sold off tractors and graders he inherited. He went further to claim that former Governor Ajimobi had bought five tractors per local government.
Let's examine this carefully.
There is no reliable public data showing reduced food inflation in Niger or Nasarawa. In fact, available figures show the opposite:
- Niger State: 42.23% headline inflation (year-on-year), the highest in the country, and 40% food inflation (year-on-year).
- Nasarawa State: 34.8% headline inflation (year-on-year), 3.5% (month-on-month), with food inflation at 30.3% (year-on-year) and 0.2% (month-on-month).
- Oyo State: 28.9% headline inflation (year-on-year), -0.8% (month-on-month), with food inflation at 19.1% (year-on-year) and 0.1% (month-on-month).
The reality is that Oyo State is performing significantly better than the two states Mr. Abegunde ranked above it. It's unfortunate that a seasoned broadcaster like Bayo Faleke didn't run a basic fact-check, something a quick search on Google or ChatGPT would have resolved in minutes.
Niger State's Tractors vs. Makinde's Agribusiness Programs
On the tractor claims: in 2024, Niger State Governor Umaru Bago signed a widely publicized $650 million agreement with John Deere to purchase tractors, alongside plans to cultivate one million hectares of land through Niger Foods, a state-owned agricultural company. The announcement won Bago "Agriculture Governor of the Year" at that year's Leadership Newspaper Awards.
The reality today tells a different story. Those tractors have not plowed any significant farmland. The one million hectares of cultivated land do not exist. Niger Foods has no tangible operational presence beyond newspaper headlines and social media posts.
As for the claim that Ajimobi bought tractors for all 33 local governments in Oyo State, there is no record of this anywhere. In fact, it was Governor Makinde who secured a court injunction against using a ₦7.6 billion CBN loan facility to purchase tractors for all 33 LGAs, several of which have no agricultural land to justify the expense. That decision reflects the kind of wasteful spending and lack of local government autonomy under the Ajimobi administration that even the APC has since turned into a campaign talking point.
Governor Makinde's position is that government has no business running businesses, and that repeating the same approach while expecting different results is, in his words, a form of insanity. The outcomes across the country back this up: state after state that bought tractors has watched them become moribund within a short period. Niger State is, ironically, the clearest evidence supporting his argument.
Rather than purchase tractors outright, Makinde's administration facilitated subsidized tractor access for registered farmers through a partnership with a private machinery operator. This approach adds zero maintenance or operating cost to the state while still delivering the intended outcome: helping farmers cultivate their land effectively.
On Nasarawa State, there is no notable agricultural development to speak of.
Makinde's Completed Road and Infrastructure Projects
By contrast, the Makinde administration has completed:
- Moniya-Iseyin Road (65km)
- Iseyin-Ogbomoso Road (76.7km)
- Oyo-Iseyin Road (34km)
Along with several projects under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Programme (RAAMP):
- Alako-Idiya-Batake-Ijaye (37.1km)
- Tewure Market-Ila Junction Road (4.73km)
- FRSC (Ago-Are-Saki Link)-Okudi Oyada (Tede) Road (6.82km)
- Adebayo-Alata-Obebe-Aba Oje Road (8.85km)
- Fasola Farm Settlement Road Network (8.43km)
- Oloko Oyo Junction-Ikere Road, Iseyin LGA (21.96km)
These roads include the construction of culverts, bridges, and single-coat surface dressing.
Other RAAMP projects include the upgrade of Oja Oba Market (Ibarapa Central LGA), Aare Alasa Market (Ona Ara LGA), and Oja Agbe Market (Iseyin LGA).
Makinde's Agribusiness Infrastructure, Partnerships, and Policies
The administration also revived the Fashola Farm Settlement, established during the colonial era and once used by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Today, it functions as an agro-processing industrial hub. Mr. Abegunde claimed that land at the facility has been sold off and that the public no longer has access.
This is false. Fashola is now home to a range of cottage industries and agro-allied businesses, along with recreation centers and chalets similar to IITA's facilities. According to Dr. Debo Akande, chairman of OYSADA, Friesland Campina now sources 60 to 70 percent of its milk from Oyo State, much of it through dairy operations based at the Fashola hub within a secured environment.
The African Development Bank has adopted the Fashola model as a template for its Special Agro-Processing Zones initiative across Nigeria, with the Eruwa Farm Settlement and Ijaye now included in that framework. Work has already begun at Ijaye, which will host additional agro-allied companies as well as an agro-wholesale market developed in partnership with Rungis, operator of the world's second-largest wholesale market in France. Fashola has since been renamed the Agriculture Transformation Centre (ATC) by the AfDB and is positioned as a leading facility for processing raw agricultural produce into finished goods for both export and local consumption.
Governor Makinde's broader philosophy centers on infrastructure that enables private sector success. The Moniya-Iseyin road, for instance, cut travel time between Iseyin and Ibadan from roughly three hours to about one, a significant relief for farmers along that corridor. Several agribusiness companies have since opened along that route to take advantage of the improved access.
Similarly, the Oyo-Iseyin road, originally built by colonial administrators in 1948, has been reconstructed to give better access to companies operating within the Fashola facility. That reconstruction has already led to the reopening of the Obasanjo Poultry Farm and the establishment of Nigeria's only brown sugar processing company, which is nearing operational status.
Oyo State is also home to the world's second-largest sorbitol factory, which processes cassava into sorbitol. The administration built a 2.5km road in Ado-Awaye specifically to connect that facility to the wider road network.
The Iseyin-Ogbomoso road, a newly constructed alternate route to the long-neglected federal Oyo-Ogbomoso highway, has opened up faster access to Ibadan for cassava and cashew farmers in that axis. An additional 30km road project connecting Okaka Junction, Otu, Igbojaiye, and the KAP Film Village is currently underway, along with new bridges over the Otu and Ofiki Rivers. All of these projects sit outside Ibadan, in regions where agriculture remains the primary economic activity.
The state has also deepened its partnership with IITA, resulting in numerous agricultural seminars and farmer sensitization programs, including:
- The Oyo State L-PRES Sensitisation and Awareness Creation Workshop on Gender-Based Violence and the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment
- An anthrax vaccination campaign
- Artificial insemination training
- A two-day capacity-building programme for abattoir workers, butchers, and industry leaders under the Oyo State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) initiative
Through OYSADA, the state has also established 10-hectare improved cassava seed farms in Awe and Saki.
Additional initiatives include:
- Roughly 3,300 youths sponsored for a knowledge-acquisition exercise in Nasarawa State in 2021, who continue to receive cash support and market access from the state government
- BIP-GoSeed, a partnership between the state government and IITA at Fashola for the production of high-yield imported seed varieties
- Continuous support for farmers through fertilizers, insecticides, and seedlings
- Revitalization of the previously moribund OYSADEP Agricultural Equipment Fabrication and Training Centre in Apata, now privately operated as a modern agro-industrial hub by the Niji Group
These are all documented, verifiable efforts by the current state government to advance food security, productivity, and economic growth through agriculture. It's worth asking why Mr. Abegunde continues to overlook them.
His inconsistencies shouldn't be excused as ignorance. For someone as vocal as he is, getting the basic facts right before speaking should be the minimum standard, not an afterthought. Presenting unverified claims as informed criticism risks misleading members of the public who may mistake volume for substance.
Mr. Abegunde also argued that the state should have established its own rice farms. Beyond the point that government involvement in direct business ventures rarely produces efficient outcomes, Oyo State already has numerous private rice millers supported both directly and indirectly by the state government.
A fair question in return: how has Lagos State's rice initiative performed? What is the current operating capacity of the Imota rice mill, a project commissioned with considerable fanfare? If that is the model being held up as an example, it raises more questions than it answers.
Anyone willing to look past the surface will see that Mr. Abegunde's commentary lacks the depth and accuracy his audience deserves. It remains surprising that Bayo Faleke did not push back or fact-check a single claim during the conversation, especially when many of these claims could have been verified with a few minutes of searching.
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