*Oyo Pensioners Nigeria’s Highest Paid –Retirees Hail Gov, Ask For More
By Stephen Gbadamosi, Ibadan
Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rasidi Adewolu Ladoja, Arusa 1, has urged Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to pay attention to rehabilitation and construction of access roads in the state to ease transportation and remove gridlocks on the major roads across Local Governments (LGs).
The 44th Olubadan made the request today at the International Conference Center (ICC), University of Ibadan venue of the Stakeholders’ Consultative and Engagement meeting for the 2026 Budget.
The event was for the Ibadan main city, comprising Ibadan South-West, South-East, North-East, North-West and Ibadan North.
The ones for other zones are expected to hold from next week.
The stakeholders, brought together by the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Professor Musibau Babatunde, employed the opportunity to table their requests, based on priorities, on what they want the government to do for them and have same included in the 2026 budget.
The stakeholders included artisans, market leaders, people with disabilities, youth organisations, labour unions, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, religious bodies, farmers, pensioners, traditional rulers, among others.
Speaking on behalf of traditional rulers, the Olubadan, who was represented by the Balogun of Ibadanland, Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, after commending Gov. Makinde for bringing development to Oyo State through constructing state and federal roads, upgrading the Ibadan Airport to international standard (with the hope of flying pilgrims to Mecca on Hajj pilgrimage from next year), charged the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning to shift attention to adjourning local roads across the state.
“The adjoining local roads are not motorable. If you happen to drive round the local roads, you will not like it, Your Excellency.
“There are no exceptions to the Local Governments. I don’t know whether they have money or they don’t have money. If they don’t have money, I am appealing to the governor to approve money for them, and give them mandate to, at least, construct five roads each, locally.
“This will make our adjoining roads motorable. Thank you,” the monarch said.
The state chapter of union of pensioners, led by its secretary, Comrade Olusegun Abatan, also used the occasion to commend Gov. Makinde for the manner he had, since 2019, been making life bearable for pensioners in the state.
He said pensioners had no cause to protest against the administration, unlike how they were wont to do to other past administrations.
Abatan recalled that pensioners were literally dead before 2019, but that Gov. Makinde had “resurrected” them.
“You have made the Oyo State pensioners to be the highest paid in the whole of the federation. You lifted us from N350.00 per month to N25,000. 00,” he said.
He, however, requested that the minimum pension for pensioners, as directed by the national president of the union, be increased to N60,000 from the current N25,000.
He also urged the governor to implement the N32,000 circular from which they were being paid N17,000, while appealing that the remaining N14,000 balance for this year be paid them too.
Many of the stakeholders, among them, the DG of DAWN Commission, Dr. Seye Oyeleye, commended Gov. Makinde for having built the state to the status of “New Oyo State” with the series of infrastructural amenities he had put in place in the past seven years. They described him as the real “Oyato” Governor.
Responding, Gov. Makinde, who said the stakeholders’ meeting, which was the seventh in the series, was aimed at knowing what the people of the state really wanted, and promised to liaise with all the ministries and agencies concerned to ensure that all the requests presented by the various bodies were captured in next year’s budget.
He mandated that the budget ought to be ready by 20 December, and so, the House of Assembly, led by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Debo Ogundoyin, ought to be ready to receive and pass it accordingly.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Oba Ladoja (left) and Gov. Makinde (right).
