ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has said the state remained the most progressive in the South-West.
Mimiko who lauded the vision of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for bringing unprecedented development to the defunct Western Region with his innovative projects, pledged to construct a road that would link Idanre with Ofosu town, on the Benin-Ore Expressway if re-elected for a second term in office.
The road, which he promised to award next year if he gets re-elected, would shorten the journey to Lagos and would enable farmers to convey their produce to various markets.
Mimiko, at a tour of Idanre, said the rapid developments his administration had put in place had made the state to tower above its peers in the region.
“In our education sector, we are proud to say that no state in the South-West compares to us, indeed, while students pay as much as N250,000 and above in tertiary institutions in the states, most of our students in Ondo State tertiary institutions pay less that N25,000.
“In Nigeria today, our workers collect the highest minimum wage of N22,000 while most of the workers in the South-West are still agitating for the N18,000 minimum wage,” he said.
The governor, at the Onisere-Ofosu farm settlement, a border community with Edo State, blamed past governments in the state for the neglect suffered by the community since it was founded in 1959 by Awolowo.
While commending the vision of Chief Awolowo for setting up the farm settlement, he, however regretted that past administrations in the state would have improved on the lives of the people if developmental projects had been executed in the community.