The Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday, August 6, 2019, passed the executive bill to establish four ministries in the state namely, Ministry of Energy; Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry bill; Ministry of Public Works, Infrastructure and Transport bill and Ministry of Women Affairs, and Social Inclusion bill.
Shedding light on the necessity for the establishment of the new ministries, the lawmaker representing Kajola State Constituency, Hon. Mustapha Olawale Akeem noted that the bills are in line with the intention of Governor Seyi Makinde to have a structural adjustment of the ministries to put the state on the path of posterity and upgrade its governance to a global practice.
On the Ministry of Energy, Akeem said that the ministry is aimed at developing capacity to attend to the power needs of residents and explore the State power creation potential pointing out that the ministry would be charged with the responsibility of strategizing, promoting and developing sustainable policies for energy planning to ensure availability of reliable energy for the residents.
Stating that the ministry would work on Public-Private Partnership, PPP, he said, “As a state, we shall continue to engage the Federal Government of Nigeria, Ministry of Power and its Agencies to align power reform policies and implementation through this ministry”.
Also, the lawmaker representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju State constituency, Hon. Bamidele Adeola noted that the new ministries bills are to restructure the existing ones and adjust how their components are married.
He stated that the executive’s aim on the bills is to break out of the old norms, stressing that if the ministries are properly handled, it would bring a lot of change to the State.
“There are no new ministries. We can only call it a kind of reshuffle because the aim is to marry the right and suitable components together to form ministries. For instance, the former Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is proposed to become the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development which we believe will make it more effective. We are just calling on the executive to ensure round pegs are put in round holes so that the strategy and efforts would not be seen as mere body exercise if there are no corresponding results”, he said.
In his remark, the Speaker of the house, Rt. Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin assured that the bills would serve their purpose adding, “We have thoroughly reviewed the bills and we assure our people that the ministries will serve their intended purposes”.