It’s been six years and six months since ‘Seyi Makinde became Governor of Oyo State despite being branded inexperienced and written off in 2019.
In these six years and some months, Oyo State has recorded one success after another, but naysayers continue to disparage the achievements of the Governor, choosing to go low most times with all sorts of arguments that stand logic on its head.
Despite these frantic efforts to lower the decibel of the victory sounds or reduce the strides made by Oyo State under Governor Makinde’s leadership, however, testimonies and ratings continue to pour in for the Governor, who has managed over the years, to keep his gaze on the goal of repositioning Oyo State and lifting its people from poverty to prosperity.
The latest rating has just come in for Oyo State, serving as icing on the cake for the Governor’s efforts at engineering a modern and greater Oyo State, with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) ranking Oyo State as one of the Top 10 States in Ease of Doing Business in its Top 10 Performing States — Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report 2025.
According to the Council, which was set up under the Presidency, Oyo clocked 45.8/73.0 or 62.7 per cent.
“These rankings reflect state-level performance under the BFA framework (Jan–Oct 2025). Congratulations to the leaders driving reform, efficiency and investor-friendly systems across Nigeria,” the report indicated, listing only Lagos with 62.7/73.0 or 85.6 per cent and Kaduna with 47.5/73.0 or 65.1 per cent as the states ahead of Oyo.
Before the PEBEC ranking, there was the 2025 State Performance Index report, which placed Oyo State as the most liveable state in the country.
In that report, Oyo State topped the ranking, which tried to assess relocation preferences across the country, with respondents having rated the states based on infrastructure development, urbanisation, security and good cost of living.
The pSPI Report lent credence to Governor Makinde’s massive developments of infrastructure and reduction in infrastructure deficiency, improvement of security and implementation of policies, which have improved the standard of living and created access to employment.
Also before the pSPI Report, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had in its first quarter 2025 report alluded to reduced cost of food items in the state, while also ranked the state as the most employment-friendly state in the South of Nigeria in 2024.
These positive testaments and many more have rolled in year on year since Governor Makinde assumed office in 2019, despite the wrong label of inexperience pinned on him by politicians, with many outstanding results that have restored the state to its Pacesetting heights.
Despite all these positive ratings coming from federal agencies and well-respected national institutions, however, with individuals like the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Zacch Adedeji, also making reference to the giant strides recorded by the Makinde government in terms of improvement of internally generated revenue, however, you would see a few All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders and paid media spinners trying to paint the state with a coal tar.
In some of these dastardly misguided acts of playing politics with development, you would even see them struggling hard to compare the Makinde administration with the immediate past government in the state when they should have grown up to face reality.
In one of such scenarios, former Senate Leader, Teslim Folarin, latching on to the sad incident of the kidnapping of an APC chieftain, tried to portray Oyo State as largely insecure, warning that Oyo State must not be surrendered to criminals, a warning that clearly should have been directed to the tables of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, where he now struggles to feed fat.
The good thing, however, is that while APC chieftains in Oyo State continue to demonstrate their garrulity, selling their lack of depth cheaply to willing buyers in their party, who they hoodwink with all sorts of lies, federal agencies and players at the Federal Government level, who can hardly afford to play politics with the truth, will continue to set them up for ridicule by giving the true picture of things with regards to how Governor Makinde is transforming Oyo State.
So, this is to say thank you to PEBEC for saying it as it is: that Makinde’s policies in agribusiness and other areas, his efforts at developing infrastructure and his investment in security have all increased the Ease of Doing Business in Oyo State, making the state one of the Top 3 in Nigeria.
Next slide, please!
Alao is the Special Assistant (Print Media) to Governor Makinde
