Politics
My Pact: Alli Promises 20-Year Warranty on Roads, Free Health Insurance for Infants, Pregnant Women
By Rotimi Aleshinloye
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Oyo State, Senator Sharafadeen Alli, has unveiled his manifesto for the 2027 governorship election, with a promise to grant full local government autonomy from his first day in office if elected.
Alli unveiled the manifesto, titled ‘My Pact,’ before stakeholders in Ibadan on Tuesday.
According to him, the blueprint is built on seven pillars under the acronym Oyo AHEAD, which stands for Autonomy of Local Government, Advancement of Infrastructure, Health Reform, Education and Employment, Agriculture and Export, Digital Economy and Security.
Presenting the document to representatives of community development associations, professional bodies, artisans, traders, labour leaders and other stakeholders, Alli said his administration would target making Oyo one of the top three economies in Nigeria.
“Oyo State is the largest piece of land in southern Nigeria. We have 351 wards in 33 councils, and about eight million people. A state like ours should be feeding the South West and selling to the world,” he said.
“Last year, this state raised less than N100 billion as IGR. Ogun, our neighbour, raised nearly three times that figure. Nearly half of our people, about 3.8 million, live in poverty, by the measure of our own National Bureau of Statistics.”
Alli said his government would grow the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, to N150 billion annually without imposing additional burden on residents and businesses.
“We will make Oyo one of the top three state economies in Nigeria. Our first target on the way is N150 billion a year of our own revenue, and the market woman will pay no more than she pays today,” he said.
“In every one of our 351 wards, there will be a clinic that works, a school that teaches, and a road that leads somewhere. The path there is simple. Power brings the factory. The factory brings the job. The job brings money into the home and the market, and that revenue builds the school and the clinic.”
On infrastructure, the APC candidate promised to complete ongoing road projects, construct farm access roads to ease movement of people and agricultural produce, and place a 20-year warranty on all new roads constructed by his administration.
He also pledged to fully constitute the State Electricity Regulatory Commission to enable Oyo State to generate power for industrial and farm corridors, audit and replace faulty transformers every six months, restore potable water in 100 communities, connect at least 100 rural communities to electricity for the first time, and modernise the Pacesetter Transport Company.
On housing, he promised to collaborate with the Federal Government and private investors to deliver affordable homes for low and middle-income earners and to reduce the time and cost of obtaining building approvals.
In the health sector, Alli promised to build general hospitals in the six local governments currently without one, recruit more doctors and health workers to address the shortfall that has left 10 hospitals without a single medical doctor, and provide free health insurance for infants, pregnant women and persons aged 70 and above.
He said his target is to double health insurance enrolment in the state from 271,000 to 500,000 within his first two years in office.
On education, he pledged to enforce a maximum of 30 pupils per class, recruit more teachers, construct additional school facilities, establish skills acquisition centres in every zone, and enact an apprenticeship law.
For the economy and job creation, Alli promised to build industrial parks, revive the Oluyole Free Trade Zone, set up a guarantee fund for small businesses, and establish the Oyo Youth Fund with an initial take-off grant of N10 billion.
Other promises include building digital hubs in the five geopolitical zones of the state, reviving farm settlements, providing insurance cover for 10,000 farmers, and setting up an export council and produce board.
He also promised to rejig the state security architecture and ensure prompt payment of salaries and entitlements of civil servants, with improved work tools and environment.