The Oyo State government, under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde, swung into action and established a committee of experts in the health, education, social and other aspects of life to restore normalcy to the affected community; this was important because of the number of cases of those already down with the fever and the panic raised afterward, which led to pupils of the only school in the village, Agbaruru, Gaa Agbaruru Community Basic School, Agbaruru, Iwere-Ile, fleeing.

The news broke on the 17th January, 2022, as two people were proclaimed dead from the outbreak of Lassa Fever at the Gaa Agbaruru, a farming village at Iwere-Ile, Iwajowa local government of Oyo State.

So many were already admitted at the general hospital at Iganna, the neighboring community, where the efforts of the medical workers were already at the thinning end.

The Oyo State government, under the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde, swung into action and established a committee of experts in the health, education, social and other aspects of life to restore normalcy to the affected community; this was important because of the number of cases of those already down with the fever and the panic raised afterward, which led to pupils of the only school in the village, Agbaruru, Gaa Agbaruru Community Basic School, Agbaruru, Iwere-Ile, fleeing.

Among the members of the committee set up by Engr. Seyi Makinde in January of 2022 to support the Dr. Bode Ladipo’s Ministry of Health and other intervening agencies was the Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency (OYCSDA), which was represented by its General Manager, Mr. Jelili Salau.

The purpose of the OYCSDA at the crucial moment was to bring forth infrastructural interventions to the people of the community and find further support for the dwellers to nip such outbreaks in the bud in the future.

OYCSDA swung into action immediately the tide of the contagious disease abated and constructed a standard Health Center and a motorized borehole which was to cater for the provision of portable water and avert spread of diseases through intake of contaminated river water.

The agency went further by providing psychosocial materials for the pupils of the primary school, an effort that led to the return of all the pupils that had earlier fled the community and drew many others to the school from neighboring villages.

Among the materials provided as intervention to Gaa Agbaruru Community Basic School, Agbaruru, Iwere-Ile are teaching aids, recreational facilities, exercise books, to mention but few.

According to the General Manager, OYCSDA, Mr Jelili Salau, “we are very proud today to tell you that the intervention at Agbaruru community has yielded immense results for the people of the community, for the first time, the community had a health center with a standard motorized borehole which has made access to healthcare easy to the people of the community and those in neighboring communities as well.

“The intervention, with the blessing of the Governor, also saw our agency providing psychosocial support to the Community Basic School, Agbaruru, Iwere-Ile, where our team of experts in the field gave the teachers and parents soul-lifting talks about the need to encourage the pupils are brought back to school to safeguard their futures.

“To this end, material supports were provided, among which are teaching aids, recreational facilities and exercise books, these we believe would ease the work of teachers and encourage good learning environment for the students as well.

“On our recent visit to the school has shown a prosperous development in the school as all the pupils that fled during the Lassa Fever outbreak last year have returned and others who have seen the swings and other recreational facilities that were provided have left other schools to join the school at Agbaruru.”

The Headteacher of Community Basic School, Agbaruru, Iwere-Ile, Mr Johnson Olatunde Oyeleye could not hide his joy when he spoke with the team that was at the school on inspection, as he appreciated the Seyi Makinde-led Government and OYCSDA for the intervention which he said has restored the confidence of the pupils in education.

“We thought all hopes were lost when the Lassa fever outbreak happened and our pupils were no more coming to school, I could not blame them, the parents feared for their children not to be infected, some people were reported to have died but with the intervention of the State government, the alarm was contained, today our people in the community have access to portable water and a health center.

“Our school is one of the best in the local government today because of the provision of psychosocial materials and facilities to the school, our students almost are rather to come to school during the weekend just to play among themselves with the swing and other facilities donated by the OYCSDA, we are grateful,” he said.

OYCSDA gave the support under the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Oyo Programme 2022 Micro Project, with support from the Oyo State government, the World Bank and the Federal Government.

*Alhazan Abiodun Rilwan is the Project Public Relations Officer (Project PRO), OYCSDA*

The Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency has on Tuesday, distributed funds to thirty communities across the State.

The Micro-Projects, which are based on ‘felt-need’ importance from each community are under school construction or renovation, community health center’s construction or renovation, erosion control as well as provision of portable water.

In his keynote address at the Training and Disbursement of Funds to the thirty communities at the House of Chiefs in Ibadan, the Chairman, Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency (OYCSDA), Hon. Abideen Adetokunbo Adeaga eulogized the Oyo State Governor,  Engr. Seyi Makinde for approving the funding of the micro-projects which include construction of culverts and line drainages in five communities, construction or renovation of community health centers in seven communities, construction or renovation of a block of three classrooms in eighteen communities and drilling of motorized boreholes in thirty communities.

Adeaga said the micro-projects were meant to expand access to basic health care, education, good roads and portable water, which were part of the effort of the incumbent administration to fulfill the promises made under the popular manifesto tagged ‘Oyo State Roadmap to Sustainable Development 2023-2027 (Omituntun-2.0).

“In line with the Governor’s strategic moves, OYCSDA is intervening in communities that prioritized culverts and line drainages for improved access roads, building or renovation of school buildings and community health centers, this way Governor Seyi Makinde’s administration is creating employment, conducive teaching and learning environment, access to portable water to defeat waterborne diseases as well as improved access to health care services by all and sundry.

“Permit me to recount that when the OYO-CARES took off officially in year 2022, the budget could only cover forty-eight communities, then the maximum grant to communities was N15million, but His Excellency has magnanimously increased it to N18million when inflation affected cost of materials.

“Despite the intervention at the planned forty-eight communities, the Governor approved supplementary funds for implementation of micro-projects in sixty-six communities, bringing it to a total of 114 communities benefiting from 256 micro-projects across the State.

“In a surprising turn, Governor Makinde recently approved the release of more funds for intervention in additional thirty communities in a move to ensure more people and more communities have improved access to micro infrastructure services that improve their lives.”

In his words, the Deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly and Chairman, House Committee on Project Monitoring, Rt. Hon. Abiodun Muhammed Fadeyi, who was a Special Guest at the event, urged the benefiting communities to embrace due diligence and probity during the project execution exercise, as the State’s anti-corruption agency (OYACA) would be watching.

While appreciating the OYCSDA on behalf of other benefiting communities, the Chairman of Agbedo Community Management Committee, Prof. Israel Adesiyan said the efforts of the State and OYCSDA in alleviating the conditions of various communities in Oyo State deserved accolades, adding that the people in the areas would continue to pray for the Seyi Makinde-led administration to end well.

Signed:

Alhazan Abiodun Rilwan,

Project Public Relations Officer (P.P.R.O)

Oyo State Community and Social Development Agency, (OYCSDA), Ibadan